For my lad’s team, league tables were published for the very first time last season. And it made pretty good reading for them.
Under guidance from the FA, under 12’s is the earliest age when football results and tables may be published. This applies to parents putting their son or daughter’s football result on social media. And as you would expect, if you visit the FA’s Full Time website, you won’t find any results for younger age groups either.
This is because after consultation, the FA decided to gradually implement more competitive games as players progress through from u7 to u11. For example, roughly a quarter of u7/u8’s games will be ‘focussed competition’, almost half of u9/u10’s games will be ‘focussed competition’ and about two thirds of u11’s games will be ‘focussed competition’. Then, from u12’s league tables, cup competitions as well as results are published on the Full Time site and parents are able to let all and sundry know how well their kids have done.
This means that instead of having a rough idea which team is top of the league, you can see who actually is. It also means you know how well your opposition have been doing in their previous matches. My lad is always interested to know who’s won, who’s lost and more importantly what that means to their own position in the league table. It also gives the lads a feeling of reality in their own football world because it brings in the possibility of a glorious promotion and also the doom and gloom threat of relegation.
The first season of knowing where you’ve finished in the league saw them finish fifth out of ten teams in the ‘A’ division. That’s fifth in the top division out of 11 – 5th out of 105 teams – a fantastic achievement.
And the final table could not have been more accurate for them – as they say, “the table didn’t lie“.
They took a couple of draws from the teams above them but lost most of those matches against them and they won most of the matches against the teams that ended up finishing below them. They finished the season 17 points behind the team at the top and 17 points in front of the team at the bottom. The very definition of ‘the middle’.
Throughout the season when they were playing any of the top three teams, I thought they had a chance of beating any of them. As it turned out, they fell short on each occasion. But not by much. Apart from a 5-1 drubbing, the most they lost by in any match was 2 goals.
It was the team who finished third last season that handed them that heaviest defeat. With home advantage, ably assisted by their referee and his eccentric decisions throughout the game, they won comfortably. To be honest the final score of 5-1 flattered our lads and the ref’s bizarre decisions, in truth, didn’t make that much difference to the score line. The opposition could easily have run into double figures. Every time they went on the attack, our usually well organised defence looked more than a little vulnerable. What did happen though, was my lad kept the score down. Half a dozen games into the season, he won his first Man of the Match trophy. And as it has turned out, that game started a strange pattern which has continued up until their last home match.
Against the same opposition, when they met in the next three league matches, my lad has won the Man of the Match trophy each time. Not so strange I suppose, if it wasn’t for the fact that they are the only times he’s won the award in the last two seasons.
The return game that season was seen as an opportunity for our lads to get one over on them. As I said, nobody had given us a hiding during the season, apart from them. Unfortunately, the game started in the same way the previous meeting had. 1-0 down relatively early on in the first half. My lad was playing well again and was kept busy throughout the first half. The difference this time was that we were making more chances to score. The confidence in our lads was much higher, you could sense an equaliser coming. Unfortunately by the end of the first half it was still 1-0 but the tide had turned again. The opposition looked more and more likely to extend their lead. Not long into the second half, they did.
Going two goals behind gave our lads their second wind. Soon enough they got a goal back and were looking for an equaliser. The manager changed the formation to give us a bit more of an attacking threat, all the time knowing that it would leave us more open to their counter attacks. Up stepped the goalie again and again to prevent them adding to the score line. The game finished 2-1, which again probably flattered us a little but at the end of the day, the goalie’s job is to keep the ball out isn’t it?
The first match of the season always hangs heavy around my neck. I fret that we might not have done enough 1:1 stuff together, that we’ve left some glaringly obvious stuff out of our training sessions or worse still, that all the other teams have moved on in terms of quality and that my lad will fall short when kick off time comes around. If you’ve read any of my previous blogs you’ll have realised that I’m a worrier, so this really won’t come as a surprise to you.
I needn’t have worried about this one.
The first game of the new campaign was away at their place. I suppose you might as well get the hardest game out of the way first?
No matter how much pre-season you get under the belt, the team usually look a little bit rusty. But to be honest, our lads gave it a really good go from the first whistle – the same ref and his ever trusty whistle – and even though they were 1-0 down, they equalised before half time. 2-1 down became 2-2 and at that point we were on top, pressing for a goal to take the lead. Totally against the run of play, they got a debatable penalty which they converted and that’s how it stayed, 3-2.
My lad had a blinder. Although it wasn’t one way traffic, they had made the best chances and he had stepped up and done his job, making some really top class saves. Opposition players with their heads in their hands and opposition parents shouting “Get in!” just as he made another save are a great indicator for how he was playing that day. At full time, the opposition manager shook his hand, patted him on the back and said “Hey, fantastic game again keeps.”
The last game in the freakish Man of the Match run for him was the first game of this year. The build up was similar to my first day of the season worries, in that his team hadn’t played a game in over a month. The opposition were in good form. Top of the league – 1st out of 100 teams this season – not dropped a point and still in both cup competitions. More worries came not long before kick off. The centre forward was injured in training a couple of days before and would be out of action for a few weeks at least. The most creative attacking midfielder had woken up with flu, so he wouldn’t be playing either.
The two of us did our usual warm up and I tried my best not to pass my fraying nerves on to my pupil. One other thing that didn’t sit quite right with me was that he changed gloves at the start of the warm up. Same brand – S1 Goalkeeping – but a different cut. He’d had the gloves about a month but due to the lack of games through December, he hadn’t had chance to wear them. He felt now was the time. I was less than convinced with his thought process before such a tough match but went along with it. Anything to make him feel relaxed before the match.
The game kicked off but without our centre forward as an outlet when we played the ball into their half, it was one way traffic. It was obvious to me that today was going to be very much, sink or swim for the keeper. He dealt with most things fairly comfortably and looked at ease in the new gloves. It was still 0-0 when a clearance from one of his defenders dropped to one of their midfielders. He went round a couple of our players and found space to smash a shot at goal from about 25 yards out. As the keeper’s biggest fan as well as his coach I always think he’s quite difficult to score past but as soon as the ball left the midfielder’s foot, I knew my lad was beaten. He moved his feet quickly and pushed off from his left foot. At full stretch, his left hand reached out and his finger tips touched the ball. All this seemed to be happening in slow motion. He still looked beaten. But he wasn’t.
He got just enough on the ball for it to hit the post. It still looked in. The ball was in mid-air and it was impossible to see whether it was over the line or not. Cheers from the opposition parents changed to gasps. Really loud gasps. The ball bounced what looked like a couple of inches in front of the goal line and thankfully, one of his defenders had reacted quickest and booted the ball clear. By our standards, there was quite a big crowd on the side lines and it sounded like every one of the supporters – home and away – was applauding. I’ve seen him make a few but I reckon it’s the best save I’ve ever seen him make.
At the end of the game (before he knew he’d got the Man of the Match) the opposition manager came up to him. He shook my lad’s hand and said “As always, you were awesome pal.” It put a huge grin on the goalie’s face. As far as the results go, you wouldn’t wish for it but as for his performances, you feel like asking…
…Can we play you every week?
Keep the faith
Keeper of the faith 