Somerset Floodlit Youth League
Glastonbury U18 (Floodlit) 1 – 1 [Cagilaba] (HT 0-0) Frome Town U18 (Floodlit)
Team: Locke Carver Barnaby Brewster Rose
Wheeler Mead Seviour© Hardwick Rudi Porter
Subs: Cagilaba PorterJnr
Dugout: Fosu Gharban(M), Curtis Goodwin, Anthony Millard
Frome Town U18 rotated heavily for this game as they started looking at squad players and how they were developing as they secured a hard fought point to secure a respectable 3rd place finish on their first season back in the floodlit league. Frome rested key men Crossman, Pollock, Clacee, Farley, Mori & Boulton to make room to give more floodlit experience to other members of the squad who have had less playing time in the league. This meant starts for Mead, Barnaby, Rudi & Mead while U16 player Rose started at left back with Cagilaba and U16 PorterJnr on the bench. Porter, Seviour, Wheeler & Locke were selected to add some experience to the side with Lunt unavailable at the last minute due to illness.
Frome started the game brilliantly with Porter and Rose dominating the left flank. The two left footed players dovetailed perfectly with Porter playing narrow with Rose overlapping superbly. Porter repeated beat his man in the opening 20 minutes providing a series of crosses and cross shots but Frome repeatedly did not execute quite the right patterns to attack the penalty area in the right areas to convert these plays. Flying fullback Rose then hit the bar with a superb 30 yard cross shot after another barnstorming run.
After this first 20 minutes though a determined and very youthful Glastonbury displayed their improvement since the first meeting of the sides as their wide players started to make some inroads on the flanks. Frome however stood up to the test with Barnaby & Brewster determined in their defensive work while Wheeler won several headers sitting just in front of the defence with Mead also doing a lot of running in the midfield area. Frome however were now struggling slightly with building up into central areas in midfield from their keeper with midfield rotation irregular and the movements of the midfield to create space for the strikers to receive longer passes also incorrect. This lack of controlled buildup allowed a more settled Glastonbury side to start to seriously pressurise a slightly disjointed Frome who were now showing signs of the large number of changes to the lineup that had been made.
The score was 0-0 at HT. Frome made both subs at his point to have another good look at U16 PorterJnr and attacker Cagilaba who had not been in the squad since the second game of the season. Mead & Hardwick came off with Cagilaba going onto the right side with Rudi dropping deeper to try and improve the movement in midfield with PorterJnr playing as a false striker. Cagilaba was impressive showing good ball control, movement and a good ability to control the ball on his chest as the Frome attack pepped up again with the Porter brothers threatening on the break with pace and skill. However Glastonbury were now beginning to turn the screw with keeper Locke making several excellent saves to keep his side in the match as lack of familiarity and match practice started to tell for several Frome players. However Frome showed they can are prepared to roll their sleeves up as Carver Brewster, Rose and Barnaby continued to defend as if their lives depended on it.
The game was now very much end to end with Locke’s long distribution to his fullbacks excellent. The Porter’s continued to torment on the break and the impressive Cagilaba after a goalmouth melee struck superbly from the edge of the box into the corner of the net to give Frome a hard earned lead. PorterJnr then seemingly taken out by the Glastonbury keeper for a possible penalty that was not given.
Frome now however lost composure as Glastonbury pressed hard for an equalizer as Locke was forced into more saves while Glastonbury also hit the bar with a header. With time running out Glastonbury forced an equalizer after a cross and header that Barnaby bravely cleared off the line only to see the rebound forced home. Frome managed to see out the game for a point despite being down to 10 men after the superb Rose went off late in the game with injury.
The Frome players can be very pleased with their efforts given the changes made to the side and the determined nature of an impressive Glastonbury performance. Frome’s squad players dug in and fought hard to get the point that secured a solid 3rd place in the division in their first season back in the Floodlit league.
MOM: Rose
