Ipswich Wanderers Youths 2 v. Buntingford Town Youths 5

Eastern Junior Alliance

Sunday 20th November 2005

Wanderers Squad: Lynch, Downes, Gostick, Stott, Knibbs, Rankin, Wilson, Hayward, Arbon, Dore, O'Connor, Garvin, Moore, Guthrie, Eadie

Management have to take some of the blame for the result outcome of this match as lessons were learnt pre-match preparation and to shorter warm up. On a cold and crisp morning, Buntingford Town had made the early morning journey to Ipswich from Herts.  They were the first of the two sides to settle into their stride and played the better of the two sides for the first 15-20min.  It was no surprise when they were gifted a goal by a mix up between the 'keeper and central defender, allowing their striker to run into an open goal.  This seemed to wake up a number of the Wanderers players who looked as if they had just risen from there pit, perhaps they may had wished that was the case.  It was not long before Wanderers equalised with some good football scored by David Arbon for his first goal at the club.  The central midfield pairing of Wilson and Hayward started to take control, you could even appreciate the majestic qualities of Hayward.  Wanderers actually looked potent up front and created a number of chances but lacked the cutting finish to support their efforts.

 Oh! how nice it would be for a change to go in at half-time evens, it was too much to ask for and once again our defensive frailties were exposed by another mistake just before the break.

HALF-TIME: 1 - 2

The second half followed the same pattern and another mistake at the back handed the opposition another gift to make it  1- 3.  Wanderers made a switch and swapped the right and left midfield players of Rankin and Arbon over to cancel out the Buntingford number 7, who had some of the qualities and flare in his play similar to Damian Duff.  This paid off and immediately saw a well constructed goal when Dore made a strong run through the heart of their defence, for Arbon to run onto and score his second goal of the match to make it 2 - 3.  While Wanderers were the better side at times outplaying Buntingford, we failed to capitalise on a number of one-on-one with the keeper by Moore who came on to replace Rankin. 

Another substitution was that of Garvin on for Stott and Downes was switched to central defence, but not before a fourth goal and another error at the back, struck with venom a half volley from the edge of the 18-yard box left the 'keeper no chance. 

Finally just before close the away side were handed another gift as generosity continued to prevail, when the ball should have been cleared from the back first time was intercepted.  The scoreline flattered the opposition for a side that has reached the 2nd round of the FA Youth Cup, who won the league last season and are poised to repeat that this season.  Wanderers are steadily improving as a squad and continue to show promise, with a little bit of luck, team spirit and belief with fewer cock-ups at the back, they can upset sides in this league and finish the season with some wins under them.

FUL-TIME: 2 - 5