A makeshift Ramsbury FC U15s team lost 8-2 to a much re-vamped and very strong Royal Wooten Basset U15s side on a blistering hot day. With many players still away on holiday, Ramsbury used Ben and AJ as keepers; numerous players played out of position and the team relied on Cam Sanchez, Bill Booth and Dan O’Neill to help them out. Ramsbury really struggled to get into the game with a 4-1-4-1 formation and were soon 4-0 down due to an inability to clear out of defence and too many players not committed to attacking and/or winning the ball. It was too easy for the RWB side and required Geoff to change the formation to 4-3-3 to bolster the midfield and provide better balance. It worked and Ramsbury had more chances with Bill scoring a great goal after plenty of Ramsbury pressure. Josh, Alex and Maya were more composed at the back and although we conceded an own goal and a late RWB strike to make it 6-1, the second 20 minutes was much better by Ramsbury.
Due to the excessive heat the last 40 mins was reduced to 30 mins with plenty of drinks breaks and saw Ramsbury attacking much better and going close twice; Reece and Byron linking up better with AJ, Fred and Ben P in attack and better and more composed play by Seb, Kieran and Ben B in clearing out of defence and on set pieces. Cam scored a great individual goal to make it 6-2, but a lack of concentration towards the end resulted in two more goals for RWB to make it 8-2 overall.
A tough match against a much stronger RWB side and much for Ramsbury to work on: such as concentration and focus, greater energy (from the outset), better positional awareness and greater commitment to win the ball and the tackle and the ability to deal with set pieces better. The positives are that as a new squad we didn’t buckle under the pressure, we stuck to the task and improved quarter by quarter, which was good to see and something we can work on in training.
Next up is an AWAY match v North Swindon Lions on Thu 29 Aug in Swindon with a 6pm kick off. Please support this friendly as all players need more match time. More to follow on SPOND.
Cheers and thanks for your support
Jon, Geoff and Andy
