Performance key for Furness footballers
Last updated at 17:04, Thursday, 07 February 2013
SOUTH Cumbria’s brightest young footballing talents were on show at Holker Street for the Furness Football Performance Centre.
The junior set-up’s under-12s, under-14s and under-15s sides took part in a treble-header against Kendal side Wattsfield on the Furness Building Society Stadium turf.
The under-12s squad, in their second season with coach Liam Reid, kicked off the games with an impressive passing display to run out 4-0 victors.
A confident penalty by Reece Speake got the FFPC under way after Joe Hayes was brought down in the box.
Wattsfield made it hard for the home side to control the game in the first half, but the margin was doubled when the ball came to Sam Hunt, who, after breaking away from two defenders, struck a powerful shot into the bottom corner.
In the second half, good work down the wings from Harry Gordon, Joe Hayes, Nathan McHugh and Joe Walker led to the ball falling to Jack Stoker, who combined with Hayes in the box to set up Luca Fleming for the third. FFPC’s dominance and patience in possession was down to excellent defending from Wyl Stanway, Brandon Allinson and Jack Chorley, while Tyler Wood continued to break down Wattsfield in the middle, leaving goalkeepers Daniel James and Kane Kendall with little to do.
The under-12s rounded off an excellent display when the ever-creative Stoker found David Cook, who slotted home the fourth.
The FFPC team are now looking forward to travelling to Burnley Centre of Excellence to tackle the Championship outfit in their next game.
There was victory also for coach Dan Myles’ under-14s side – who triumphed 5-1 in a game tighter than the scoreline suggests.
The FFPC started slowly and mistakes at the back led to Ethan Burrows putting the ball beyond Harry Copeland to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The hosts began to find their feet and equalised when Zach Walker’s cross was put into the net by a defender.
Wattsfield were kept at bay with excellent saves by Copeland. And Matthew Bailey and Danny Davies put the FFPC ahead for the first time with an excellent 25-yard volley, before further goals by Danny Davies and Jackson Round made it 4-1.
The Wattsfield goalkeeper pulled off some fantastic saves to keep the score down in the second half, tipping shots from Davies and Robbie Wallace on to the bar, but he was unable to stop Will Coles adding a fifth from the six-yard box.
The under-15s were very impressive in a 1-0 win.
Despite dominating possession, the only goal came from Josh Miller as he headed in at the back post from an excellent cross by Oscar Fleming.
Reid said after the three games: “The players are constantly trying to raise the bar and their attitude, both in training and on match days, has been exceptional.
“The coaches are putting in a lot of time and effort to build upon the great work done by junior managers in the area.
“We are still a bit away from the top centre of excellence sides, but we are all working hard to close the gap.”
First published at 16:37, Thursday, 07 February 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
Well done all, keep working hard and live the dream hopefully one day playing Pro or Semi Pro.
Have your say
Great to see that young footballers are now getting the chance to experience a higher standard of coaching and matches in the local area. Let's hope that this leads to more local footballers making the grade and playing for Barrow AFC and higher.
Posted by Colin Garnett on 20 February 2013 at 10:33