Braintree Town 4 – 0 Dunmow Lions
Sunday February 24th
Henry, Ike, Archie, Ollie, Max, Alphie, Shay, Hadleigh.
A very very cold Braintree was the setting for this weeks’ U8’s Blackwater league match for
the Lions against Braintree Town.
Lions captain Ollie Jones won the toss and Dunmow Rhodes kicked off. It was quite clear to
see from the outset that there was a difference in skill levels between the two teams, but as
our Lions have showed in their previous two games they are willing to roll up their sleeves
and try to do the best they can……..but this was going to be hard!!
Braintree dominated the game in opening stages and it wasn’t too long before they took the
lead with a well taken goal coming from a great move down the left side of the pitch. Worse
was to come for the Lions soon after as Archie, who had been struggling all week with a
cold, had to be substituted. The Lions now had to play the rest of the match with the no
subs, against an opposition who made Dunmow run around an awful lot, but it was great to
see Hadleigh don the yellow and green kit for his debut.
A controversial second goal for Braintree all but killed the game off for the Brave Lions, Ollie
who worked tirelessly all game in attack and defense, took a kick on his knee during one of
Dunmow rare attacks toward the end of the first half. Ollie went down and although no foul
was given which was probably fair, the ref decided to play on whilst Ollie was visibly upset
on the ground, the defense sort of stopped as we all expected play to be
halted………………...not until the Braintree had scored though, 2-0…………a third was to follow
before the break 3-0.
The second half showed just what these boys are made of, three nil down, sub-zero freezing
cold day and against the best team they are ever likely to play, many of the pros of the game
would have called it a day but the U8’s Lions are made of stern stuff and put on a great show
or the rest of the match. Max, Alphie and Shay all worked hard in midfield and attack
chasing back, tackling and getting forward whenever possible. Ike and Hadliegh in defense
stopped the onslaught from the Braintree attack with some great tackling and perseverance,
Henry in goal again making some outstanding saves, beyond his years. The energy and
determination of whole team was outstanding for the 40 minutes, and the work rate of Ike
and Ollie to name a couple was formidable, goal stopping tackles in defense and causing the
Braintree Town to panic when attacking.
The game finished 4-0, the Coaches have never been prouder of the boys, this is their first
ever loss as a team and am sure this will only make the Lions a better and stronger
team……WELL PLAYED BOYS!!!
Dunmow Rhodes Lions 1 – 1 Galleywood Youth Eagles
Sunday February 17th
Team: Henry, Ike, Archie, Ollie, Josh, Alphie, Shay.
After last weeks’ thrilling 3-3 draw away to Burnham Ramblers, this Sundays home match against
Galleywood Eagles had a lot to live up to and didn’t disappoint.
On a sundrenched Recreation ground in Great Dunmow, a large and expectant crowd gathered to
watch the match earlier billed as a David versus Goliath contest, with an established Galleywood
team up against the relatively new inexperienced young LIONS of Dunmow.
The game started tentatively with both teams battling hard in midfield to try and gain domination of
the football, but the two teams looked nervous and mistakes were all too frequent, no real pattern to
the game was established early on.
As the game grew on Galleywood appeared to be the team settling the better and started to move
the ball around using the width of the pitch, stretching the game and the Dunmow defense. It was
tough going for the young Lions, not having played against a team at this level before, however to the
Lions credit they dug deep and protected their goal magnificently. Numerous times Ike, Archie and
Ollie put their bodies on the line defending with their life’s it seemed, to thwart Galleywoods offense
and with the heroic Henry “thou shall not pass” in goal making some tremendous saves Galleywood
began to get frustrated. With this Dunmow Lions began to take advantage and started to mount a few
attacks of their own with the ever dangerous Alphie marauding down the wing and Shay working hard
up front on his own pressurising the opposition, Dunmow started to cause Galleywoods defense to
panic for the first time in the game. Just as The Lions started to relax, play their football and with half
time looming Galleywood managed to breach Dunmows stout defending and take the lead with a well
taken goal which was probably just about deserved on the balance of play.
After a stirring Churchillian speech from Coaches Gary and Carl the Lions were reborn in the second
half and took the game to Galleywood from the whistle, gaining superiority in midfield early on,
pressing the opposition high up the pitch playing the game in the Galleywood half. This tactic paid
dividends and after a great interception and offload from Ollie on the half-way line, Josh sprinted
clear of the chasing defense, but he still had a long way to travel with the ball, the Galleywood keeper
came off his line to narrow the angle as Josh seemed to lose the chance the shoot as the ball started
to veer on to his least favored left foot, but no reason to worry Josh slotted the ball home with great
aplomb to equalize……………….the boys, crowd, management………………and referee celebrated
enthusiastically.
The rest of the game was played in the spirit of a cup final both teams wanted to win and took the
game to each other trading blows like two heavyweight boxers. As the clock ran down a draw seemed
likely until a counter attack was launched from Galleywood and with the 6 men of Dunmow already
stretched at the back it was up to Man of the Match Henry to save the Lions. Henry came out
narrowed the angle and the Galleywood striker could only shoot wide; with gasps and cheers heard
from the crowd a creditable, well deserved draw was the outcome.
Burnham Ramblers 3 v 3 Dunmow Rhodes Lions
Sunday February 10th
The boys were looking forward to the new challenge of the Blackwater spring league
and couldn’t wait to get going, they started the game well pressing high up the pitch
but were caught out when the ramblers hit Rhodes with a quick break and scored in
the third minute. Having never gone behind in a game the boys regrouped well at
the restart, again pressing the ball and some great movement when in possession. A
great tackle in the middle of the pitch from the captain Ollie, then passing to Alphie
on the right wing who intern took off down the wing past two Burnham players and
crossed the ball to shay in the box, shay showed a lovely bit of skill with a drag back
and passing to josh on the far post who calmly slotted the ball past the keeper.
With some great battles in the mid field Max and Chris were determined not to let
anything past them, but Burnham hit on the break again and with a great save from
henry in goal, the ball broke loose and there was nothing henry could do to stop
Burnham scoring a second. Rhodes second goal came from a corner from Ollie and a
scramble in the box and a bullet low shot from the edge of the box into the bottom
left hand corner from Alphie.
Burnham came back at the Lions again and with some fantastic last ditch tackles
from Ike and max getting busy in defense the half finished all square.
With both teams starting the second half as they finished the first, the boys were
really enjoying a good tough match, and with josh in the middle of the pitch showing
some lovely skill was able to pass a great ball to Ollie, who took on and rode a few
hard tackles, then found Shay in the box with a perfect pass and shay rounded the
keeper to put the lions into the lead for the first time, but like before Burnham were
not finished, and with the boys getting tired on what was a very heavy pitch,
Burnham scored again with only a few minutes left.
Heybridge Swifts 0 v 7 Dunmow Rhodes Lions
Sunday January 13th
The boys started the match very positive, pressing the ball from the off and were
rewarded with an early goal from Archie.
The boys carried on pressing the ball and when in possession they were passing the
ball freely with the captain Alphie and Ollie running the wings and Ike pressing the
middle, Shay and Archie had a few more chances, with Archie scoring his second just
before half time.
The boys started the second half well with Chris and Max playing well in defence,
Henry made a couple of good saves and the team were soon rewarded with goals
from Shay, 2 from Ollie and 2 from Ike, one of which was his first for the team.
With some more attacks from Heybridge stifled out by the team, Lions u8’s finished
the game very strong and deserved a good win.