The cup final!

Team Sheet : Coby, EthanR, EthanT, George, Isaac, James, Jasper, Lewis, Mason, Oliver, Rui, Sam, (Stanley), Thomas, Travis

The cup final. The boys made it.

I want to start this report with a massive shout out to Stanley – the bravest Iguana today. Admin issues and daft rules given the circumstances meant one of our team missed out today and Stanley handled this amazingly well, showing the way on team spirit and bravery.

The day started off well for the boys – a minibus to a nice ground, with a pitch infinitely better than last week’s and stands for the fans. The weather was also perfect for a game of football.

Oliver, Mason, Coby, George, EthanT, Thomas, Lewis, Travis and EthanR came out of the tunnel to take to the pitch first, against South Woodham Ferrers who the Iguanas have had two tight games against this season.

A lively start saw the ball in United’s half for pretty much all of the first 5 minutes. And then a set-back.

United hit the Iguanas on the break, the ball going down the right wing. The cross was deflected high in the air. Oliver came out to meet the ball, with a United player also coming towards it. He made contact with the ball first, but could only deflect it into another United player’s path. Oliver dived for the shot, but the ball went over his outstretched hand and the Iguanas were down a goal early on.

The Iguanas kicked off well again, pushing hard. Passing was neat and the team were bossing the mid-field. Then another United break, this time down the left. The ball was crossed in and met neatly by a United attacker, putting the ball just above the Iguanas keeper. This wasn’t the script we all wanted.

Again, the Iguanas kicked off well and moved the ball nicely into United’s half. The ball had spent 90% of its time in that half, and some strong work up the wings by Travis and, especially, Coby saw half chances created frequently, but our boys couldn’t quite find the space or time to get away a decisive shot.

Jasper, James and Rui came on to give Travis, Lewis and EthanT a break.

More push up into the United half. A free kick was won in a dangerous area just outside the box. Mason struck it well, but the ball went just over the bar. Luck wasn’t with us today.

Mason and George were switched out for Isaac and Sam.

Again, more push and more neat breaks on goal, but with no end result.

Then yet another break by United. Down the left once more, they had pace enough to beat the off-side and make it clear on goal. A clinical strike saw the ball go in at the left post to give the Iguanas a massive uphill task.

The Iguanas continued to battle and to push into the United half, but the attacks were snuffed out by United, who then used the counter attack really well, using their excess of pace over the Iguanas to brutal effect. When standing back to avoid being beaten on pace on the counters, the Iguanas were failing to make good first connections with the ball, the ball either landing to a United player, or spinning in the wrong direction to ultimately help the break.

A final counter attack in the first half down the left-hand side saw United 3 on 2 at the back. The ball was passed to the spare player who was once again clinical in his strike and there was no stopping this one.

A torrid first half for an under-par Iguanas, and all the fans feeling the pain for the boys.

Half time.

Oliver, George, Isaac, EthanR, Coby, Lewis, Rui, Thomas and Travis took to the pitch for the second half, with a mountain to climb.

This time it was United who pressed hardest in the opening spell of the half, the ball spending much of its time in the Iguanas’ half. But the team defended solidly and prevented the scoreline getting wider.

The Iguanas also managed to counter, Thomas testing the keeper early on, the shot being neatly collected.

The first 15 minutes of the half were extremely even, and the Iguanas were now connecting with the ball much better. But there was still a tendency to stand off the ball and wait for it to arrive, rather than attack it in a way that we saw from the Iguanas earlier in the season, and with the pace in the United line up this left the team open to issues.

Rui picked up a knock and had to be replaced by EthanT. Isaac and EthanR were then replaced by Mason and Jasper.

The game remained much, much more even between the teams, and much more representative of the ultimate quality of both sides.

Almost out of nowhere, an Iguanas’ goal kick eventually went to a United player and they broke quickly. A speculative shot from outside the box on the left looked to have been dealt with, but went through Oliver’s hands/legs to extend the scoreline in the most unfortunate way.

The biggest positive of the game was that the team never seemed to let their heads go down. This wasn’t a scoreline any of them wanted, but lesser teams would have had players in tears at this stage (as we saw in the previous match). From the kick off they continued to string together decent passes and make progress up the pitch.

The final subs of the match were made, Lewis and George making way for Sam and James.

EthanT was brought down just inside the Iguanas’ half, winning a free kick. Mason took the kick, sending a long ball down towards the right. This time United failed to deal with the ball, letting it run through onto a pouncing Thomas. And this time the shot went off neatly and beat the United keeper to his left. Nothing less than the boys deserved for their grit and solid build up play throughout the match.

The Iguanas continued to battle, but the goal had shown United there was still danger in the Iguanas and they also stepped up the pace again, forcing some solid defensive blocking and some nice collects by the Iguanas’ keeper, whilst also preventing the ball posing too much additional danger in their own half.

The full-time whistle blew with no further goals. A rough 15-minute spell in the first half was the main difference between the teams, but the Iguanas were beaten by the better side on the day, failing to who the strength and quality we’ve seen throughout most of the season across most areas of the pitch.

There were lots of sad faces at the end of the match. Entirely understandable given the result, but the team need to be proud of getting this far. If we’d have said, 12 months ago, that the team would have been promoted a division and made the cup final in the next season, we’d probably all have thought that a bit of a stretch. But that’s exactly what they’ve done. They held their heads up through the whole game, and afterwards, and showed massive team spirit. That will stand us well for next year when we can see if we can go one better!

The day was capped off by a fabulous session at Legends, the team happy to all be together. Huge thanks to the coaching team and parents who made all of this happen, and underscoring the camaraderie of this team – Come On You Iguanas!

Iguana of the Match : The whole team this week, for getting this far.