Adwick Park Rangers U12 Blues
Vs
Sprotbrough Crusaders U12 Blues
A wet and windy Sunday morning game started in entertaining fashion, with both sides showing early on their desire to win the game. APR took an early lead on 5 minutes when an excellent through ball from Tommy split the defence and allowed Quinn to slot past the keeper and make it 1-0 to the home team. The visitors responded well forcing APR keeper jack into a top class save from a long range effort.
Pressure built up from the visitors and excellent work on set plays saw them draw level on 11 minutes, 1-1 and then take the lead on 19 minutes 1-2. First scoring a close range shot from a corner before another corner, only partially cleared resulted in a shot from the edge of the box that left the APR keeper with no chance of stopping it. APR then responded well themselves with captain Tommy creating space for himself in midfield before letting fly with a long range shot that narrowly missed.
The visitors looked very dangerous, almost extending their lead after winning possession from an APR free kick, breaking quickly and forcing a save from Jack at his near post. They continued to pile on pressure hitting the post before adding to their tally with a well took goal on the break on 30 minutes, 1-3.
After a half time break that was extended slightly while one of the referee's assistants ordered himself a coffee the second half got started in the same energetic and exciting fashion as the first. An early chance saw the visitors extend their lead on 34 minutes to 4-1. Never giving up the fight APR kept working hard and soon a pass from Quinn found Leo in space at the corner of the box and a brilliant strike narrowed the deficit to 2-4 on 38 minutes.
After a short injury break when two APR players clashed accidentally while going for the same ball, Leo let loose with another shot from the edge of the box and found the net making it 3-4 on 44 minutes. Now only one behind APR piled on the pressure even forcing an opposition defender to play the ball against his own crossbar.
A quick break from the visitors resulted in an effort that was smothered when APR keeper Tom came off his line quickly and closed down the shot. When Layton was fouled while charging forward with the ball, Quinn took the resulting free kick and levelled the score at 4-4 on 55 minutes, putting the ball in the top corner having only narrowly missed from a similar position a few minutes earlier.
Late in the game a break down the right side saw Leo beat his man and get into the box, pulling the ball back for Emmet to slide it away and put APR in the lead on 57 minutes, 5-4 for the first time since the early moments of the match. The closing minutes saw chances for both sides, with Quinn winning the ball from an opposition goal kick and setting up Leo who hit the post. The visitors piled on the pressure themselves to close out the game but the APR back line shut down every chance they attempted to create. A well earned first win of the season in a well fought contest between both teams which lifted APR off the bottom of the table. Player Of The Match was well earned by Tommy, although this could have gone to anyone on the APR team in an excellent display.
