AFC Lightning U15s win 5-0 against depleted Dynamos U15s

AFC Lightning 5-0 AVDFC U15’s

Team: Luca; George, Bobby, Zola, Harley; Conor, Owen, Dylan, Harrison, Charlie, Kai; Callum

Second game back and no Edward as he was representing MK Dons today, this meant Luca agreed to go in goal for the 80 minutes.
Mike deployed a back four with Harley and Zola as full backs and Bobby partnering George in the middle.
AFC started the stronger and went 1-0 up with two cruel deflections going their way to create an opening which they put past Luca. 1-0 AFC
Dynamos were struggling to string passes together, but when they did, they looked good. Owen played a ball through to Callum and his shot went wide of the mark.
Moments later Conor played the ball wide to Kai and he found Charlie in the middle, 20 yards out and he hit a shot which looked well over…but hit the crossbar and went over. Unlucky !
AFC then had a glorious chance to double their lead but somehow Luca pulled off 2 point blank saves and Dynamos cleared their lines. Superb reflex saves from Luca.
12 minutes and AFC went through to score, but the attacker had strayed offside. Then Luca was called into action again and dived at the feet of the striker to save well.
AFC then won a corner and they won the header to make it 2-0 AFC.
Quarter of an hour played and great battling from Owen saw him sneak the ball through to Callum and he lobbed the keeper, but he clawed it away for a corner. Charlie swung the corner in and Zola got on the end of it but couldn’t find the net.
AFC were moving the ball around well and looking to go wide, but Zola on the right and Harley on the left were both clearing the ball well and winning their individual battles. Bobby was also settling well into the team and got a number of tackles in when needed.
24 minutes and AFC had a good chance but hit their shot over Luca’s bar.
With five minutes of the first half remaining, Dynamos were still producing some good football. Harrison, who was having a quieter game than usual, won the ball and played in Callum, he squared to Owen who had his shot saved by the AFC keeper.
AFC had the last chance of the half with a ball over the top, but Zola used his pace to steam back and win the ball just in time.
Half time AFC Lightning 2-0 Dynamos
The second half saw Dynamos start brighter, Dylan, in the midfield won the ball and played it out to Kai, he took a touch and hit a low cross/shot which just eluded Owen as he came in at the back post.
10 minutes in and Harrison battled hard to win the ball and side stepped a challenge to play Callum through, his shot was wide of the mark, but Dynamos were playing well.
A minute later and Dylan again had possession, his ball into Callum saw him hit a superb shot which rattled the post and went wide. So close to a goal.
60 minutes and the killer goal came as AFC managed to squeeze the ball into the near post from a good move. 3-0 AFC
63 minutes and Zola and Charlie combined with the latter hitting a shot just over the bar. In another good move, Kai had the ball upfield and knocked it back to Dylan on the right hand side, he found Owen who took a shot which went just over the bar.
70 minutes and Kai hit a corner which Dylan managed to control and play it back to Charlie but his shot was wide of the mark.
74 minutes in and a tiring Dynamos team struggled to keep possession and were punished when a cross wasn’t cleared. 4-0 AFC.
Apparently Luca predicated that he would give a penalty away and as time was running out decided to do exactly that as he came out and took the ball, and the player, to give the referee no choice but to give a penalty. The player for AFC slotted the penalty to Luca’s left.
Final score – AFC Lightning 5-0 Dynamos

A very difficult game with only 1 (slightly injured) sub to rely on. Defensively we looked good. Harley and Zola both looked good and battled well all match. Bobby has settled well and looks composed on the ball, an excellent addition to the team. Dylan came on into the middle and then the right of midfield and did well battling hard in the second half. Callum was unlucky not to score and caused AFC a number of problems throughout the match. Final shout out to Captain Luca, 15 years old couple of days ago, and agreed to play in goal the whole match. His kicking was great and made a few decent saves as well.