Desborough Youth v Newport Pagnell Youth
8/10/2003 League Cup
It was like waiting for a bus! You wait ages and
all of a sudden eight come along all at once!
We went into the Knockout Cup tie against Newport Pagnell having scored just two
goals in our previous five games and having already been beaten by a last-gasp
goal against our visitiors in the first game of the season.
However, I find it hard to recall seeing a better finishing display in my 5
years as youth team manager at Desborough. Everything just clicked.
But football is 60-70 per cent confidence and I was sure that we possessed as
good a front two on their day as any in the league and all they required was a
boost of confidence to be up and running, and that's just what they got against
Newport Pagnell.
We scored early, which was crucial, and it came from a fairly unlikely source -
Desborough's own Callum Bond! He got on the end of an excellent cross from Adam
Dainty and it was difficult to figure out who was more surprised when it went in
- him or the bench!
Dainty soon made it 2-0 with an good finish and you could see the confidence
boost that gave him in particular.
We made it 3-0 by the break through Dainty's strike partner Craig Misciali and,
again, that set him off for the season.
Before Misciali's goal, however, credit goalkeeper Chris Hurling, who made a
superb one-handed save to keep it at 2-0.
After the break, after weathering an expected Newport Pagnell burst, we took
control again and scored again through Dainty to make it 4-0 and then came the
coup-de-gras!
Bond took a corner and saw Ashley Hustwayte on the edge of the box and his
first-time volley flew into the top corner of the net for a goal as good as you
could witness anywhere, and had it been on television would have been replayed
countless times and be voted as 'goal of the month'!
Dainty completed his hat-trick shortly afterwards to make it 6-0 before the
visitors pulled one back, which annoyed me as a grumpy old miserly former
defender!
Misciali added number seven and Dainy rounded things off with his own fourth and
our eighth.
Make no bones about it, Newport Pagnell are not a bad side. Too often we are
quick to discredit our own side by suggesting the opposition were'nt up to much,
but this was not the case here.
I am not saying that we shall now go on to win the league and the cup, but I
have been saying all season that we were not as bad as results had indicated and
all we needed was a shot of confidence - and we got that, eight-fold!
Steve Whitney
September 2003 Round Up
Apologies for the lack of updates on the youth team, but I have
been extremely busy, although that is really no excuse!
It has been a somewhat difficult start to the campaign. Things didn't start well
when, for club disciplinary reasons, we lost centre back David Haggard and then
his partner Ben Asher through injury. We also had striker Adam Dainty out
injured for the opening three games, so we began the campaign with a very young
squad, including a back four which included two 16-year-olds and 15-year-old Sam
Northern, all experiencing under-18 football for the first time.
Our opening game was against Newport Pagnell Town at The Waterworks, and,
despite the problems, produced a good performance, although we struggled to make
many chances. It was, therefore, extremely disappointing to lose the game 1-0 to
a last-minute goal, although the lads were admonished afterwards for 'switching
off' at a free-kick.
Preceeding our next game at Rockingham Road against Kettering Town we all
enjoyed a pre-match meal, but I was missing a number of key players due to there
being a reserve game the same night. To go into a game against a side like the
young Poppies without three senior players in goalkeeper Brad Wilson, midfielder
Andreas Sanders and defender Matt White was going to make it extremely tough.
And so it proved, although for the first 25 minutes we produced some excellent
football and, had we managed to take a couple of chances that came our way
during this period, things might well have turned out differently.
In the end, though, after Kettering scored there was no way back and they showed
the advantage of full-time training by running out 6-0 winners, albeit the final
scoreline was a bit hard on our lads.
Considering the result at Kettering then, to manage a goalless draw in our next
game against a very big Kempston Rovers side was encouraging and showed we have
a bit of character in our young side.
Again, our lack of a cutting edge showed, but, conversly we didn't look like
losing either. The only bad note on the night was a serious injury to Adam Toop,
who fell awkwardly after a tackle from behind and had to receive oxygen and
ambulanced to hospital where it was later revealed he had suffered a double
fracture of his left wrist.
In our fourth game we took the lead against Long Buckby through midfielder Ben
Baines and played very well in the opening half.
Quite what I said wrong at half-time I don't know, but we were awful for the
first 25 minutes of the second period and fell 2-1 behind. We threw everything
at Long Buckby after that but again couldn't score.
Injuries and unavailabilities meant a weakened side travelled to Ford Sports for
our fifth game, but we did extremely well against a decent side on a terrific
pitch.
Ben Baines again gave us a first-half lead, but that was wiped out shortly after
the break, but this time we got hold of the game again and should have won it in
the end, but I would perhaps have settled for a point before the game.
Finally, it is great to see that we have no less than FIVE players currently in
the County Youth squad - goalkeepers Brad Wilson and Chris Hurling, defender Ben
Greasley and midfielders Callum Jenkins and Andreas Sanders.
During the 19 years I have managed at under-18 level I have had many players who
have represented the county, and is actually the second time I have had my two
goalkeepers in the squad at the same time - the last being when I was managing
Rothwell Town and both Tom Smith and Martin Johnson were selected.
However, I am delighted to have both Brad and Chris in the squad and it's a
nice, but difficult job chosing between the two for our games, although I have
always stated how highly I rate Brad Wilson, who is now the regular first choice
for the reserves and has already made his first-team debut.
Steve Whitney
Desborough Youth v Newport Pagnell Youth -
League Cup
It was like waiting for a bus! You wait ages and all of a sudden eight come
along all at once!
We went into the Knockout Cup tie against Newport Pagnell having scored just two
goals in our previous five games and having already been beaten by a last-gasp
goal against our visitiors in the first game of the season.
However, I find it hard to recall seeing a better finishing display in my 5
years as youth team manager at Desborough. Everything just clicked.
But football is 60-70 per cent confidence and I was sure that we possessed as
good a front two on their day as any in the league and all they required was a
boost of confidence to be up and running, and that's just what they got against
Newport Pagnell.
We scored early, which was crucial, and it came from a fairly unlikely source -
Desborough's own Callum Bond! He got on the end of an excellent cross from Adam
Dainty and it was difficult to figure out who was more surprised when it went in
- him or the bench!
Dainty soon made it 2-0 with an good finish and you could see the confidence
boost that gave him in particular.
We made it 3-0 by the break through Dainty's strike partner Craig Misciali and,
again, that set him off for the season.
Before Misciali's goal, however, credit goalkeeper Chris Hurling, who made a
superb one-handed save to keep it at 2-0.
After the break, after weathering an expected Newport Pagnell burst, we took
control again and scored again through Dainty to make it 4-0 and then came the
coup-de-gras!
Bond took a corner and saw Ashley Hustwayte on the edge of the box and his
first-time volley flew into the top corner of the net for a goal as good as you
could witness anywhere, and had it been on television would have been replayed
countless times and be voted as 'goal of the month'!
Dainty completed his hat-trick shortly afterwards to make it 6-0 before the
visitors pulled one back, which annoyed me as a grumpy old miserly former
defender!
Misciali added number seven and Dainy rounded things off with his own fourth and
our eighth.
Make no bones about it, Newport Pagnell are not a bad side. Too often we are
quick to discredit our own side by suggesting the opposition were'nt up to much,
but this was not the case here.
I am not saying that we shall now go on to win the league and the cup, but I
have been saying all season that we were not as bad as results had indicated and
all we needed was a shot of confidence - and we got that, eight-fold!
Steve Whitney
October 2003 Round Up
Three reports in one this time, mainly due to the
fact that certainly two of the games don't deserve too much lineage!
Following our fine performance against Newport Pagnell in the Knockout Cup we
faced the very difficult task of facing title-favourites Corby Town at the
Waterworks. And the young Steelmen lived up to their pre-season billing with a
stunning first-half performance that saw us go in at the break 5-0 down.
However, credit the lads who, faced with opponents that contained many of last
season's S & L championship-winning side, gave a determined second half
display. I asked the boys to play for pride in the second half and they did, and
although we were'nt able to reduce the deficit, we more than matched opponents
who, in the main, were a year or two older than most of my team.
Our next game was away at Cogenhoe United, and it was a game that I certainly
had targeted three points.
However, we were pretty dreadful again in the opening half, and although the
home side never really looked like penetrating our re-shuffled defence which
included a debut for new signing, 15-year-old Rob Stanley (who's father Paul
played for Ar Tarn in the 1960s), replacing the injured Sam Northern, we didn't
look like scoring either. In the end, Cogenhoe went in at the break 1-0 up, but
a good old fashioned tongue-lashing in the interval saw us start the second half
much better until, that is, goalkeeper Chris Hurling had a rush of blood and got
himself sent-off, deservedly, for lashing out after being awarded a free-kick
for a foul on him.
We possessed no goalkeeping cover on the bench, but our other new signing,
15-year-old Tom Kwah, plays in goal for his school team so made his debut in
between the sticks.
Chris Hurling's dismissal was just about the only thing the referee got right on
the night, but I am not using him as an excuse as we went on to lose 3-1 (Adam
Dainty netting for us), and young Tom Kwah could not be faulted, although a
'proper' keeper would probably have saved both Cogenhoe goals.
I think from now on I am going to pretend it is half-time BEFORE kick-off,
because against Bugbrooke we once again started badly.
Although the visitors never really threatened us we couldn't put two passes
together ourselves. Bugbrooke eventually went ahead on a breakaway but a goal
right on the stroke of half-time by Ben Baines rescued the team from one
almighty half-time bollocking!
A few tea cups thrown and one or two stern words later and we were a different
side in the second half, producing what spectators afterwards reckoned was some
of our best football of the season so far.
Goals followed by Adam Dainty and a brace for Tom Kwah, whom I gave a full debut
to in his more usual position in attack, and he performed excellently.
Bugbrook did score from a deflected free-kick, but otherwise we were virtually
completely on top in the second half.
Steve Whitney
January 2004 Round Up
The eagerly-awaited local derby with Rothwell
Town saw us produce one of our
best performances of the season so far.
The kick-off was delayed for 20 minutes because of a colour clash and
Desborough emerged wearing the blue Rothwell strip, which I didn't mind
because it was the same strip which was used when I was managing the Bones'
under-18 side to the league and cup double!!
It was a typical derby with tackles flying in and no quarter asked or given.
However, Desborough were looking by far the likelier to score, which we
eventually did midway through the first-half through Rothwell-based Adam
Dainty.
Kicking up the slope in the second half was always going to be tough, but we
held a high line and defended excellently, whilst always looking dangerous
on the break.
We killed the game off when 15-year-old Tom Kwah continued his good run by
adding the finishing touch to a fine move down the left involving skipper
Jamie Smith and Adam Dainty.
Next up was Raunds Town at a very frosty Kiln Park and a game which I was
almost forced to postpone due to so many unavailabilities due to Christmas
being less than a week away and school proms and work commitments
determining a make-shift team.
We gave a debut to 15-year-old Luke Pulford in goal, while first-teamer
Callum Jenkins helped us out in attack.
Although young Luke was extremely nervous, our defenders gave him very
little to do, and while we didn't perform anywhere near as well as at
Rothwell the week before, I was satisfied with a 1-0 win and, particularly
as an 'old defender', another clean sheet!
Jamie Smith scored the only goal of the game in the second half, although it
was so foggy that up until three days later I had given it to Callum
Jenkins!
It was perhaps one of the most one-sided 1-0 games I have ever seen, but
with players playing out of position and a make-shift side, it will do!
We then travelled to the Dog & Duck to take on newcomers Wellingborough
Whitworths, who have done well in their first season in the league and held
high-flyers Kettering Town to a goalless draw in their previous game.
The pitch, for the Dog & Duck (!) was amazingly good, heavy, but perfectly
playable, although it did make playing decent football a test, and with two
sides who like to play it around, that made it difficult.
However, chances were few and far between for either side, although Brad
Wilson - back in goal for the suspended Chris Hurling - made a fine save
midway through the second half and Adam Dainty and Tom Kwah both missed half
chances for us.
In the end it was another goalless draw for Whitworths and our third
successive clean sheet which, of course, delighted me!!
Steve Whitney
