Penn & Tylers Green (04/01/2004)
2003 - 2004 Season, Hithercroft Under 16s



The weather was cold but dry but the ground was very sticky for this first match of 2004. Penn are currently placed second in the Division and recently scored 8 goals against Flackwell Heath. Hithercroft had only 12 players available with Sam Vaughey being on the touchline at the start of the game at 11am.

Unfortunately I had difficulty finding the ground and arrived after the game had been in progress for about ten minutes, by which time the home team were 1-0 ahead. Penn are a well-organised side and positionally well-disciplined, so being aware of the location of each of their players enabling accurate passing. They were tending to dominate the mid-field. After 30 minutes they went 2-0 up and this remained the scoreline at the end of the first half.

The second half began at 11.50am and after 5 minutes Penn were awarded a corner from the right. The ball was sent in close to the goal over the keeper’s head and fell to an advancing player who pushed the ball into the visitor’s net for a 3-0 lead. At this point Dan Reading, the Hithercroft goalkeeper, was brought off the field as he had been hit on the nose in the first half and was being affected by the injury. Mark Sadler took over the goalkeeping duties and Sam Vaughey came on to play in defence. At 12.10pm the Penn No.10 turned inside from the right wing and played the ball back to the No.9 who hit the ball into the net to extend his side’s lead to 4-0. Mark was doing a good job in goal and when the No. 9 later turned and fired a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box Mark got his foot to the ball and sent it over the bar for a corner. Penn wasted the resulting corner kick by putting the ball directly out of play. At 12.16pm Hithercroft took the ball down the right wing and sent the ball across the field to Scott Vincent, who was to the left of the goal. He sent the ball back across the goalmouth and it came off the inside of Tyrone Francis’ leg into the Penn net to give Hithercroft their opening goal of the match. However, within 60 seconds the home team played the ball down the left wing and sent it infield for the No. 9 to put the ball into the Hithercroft net, making the score 5-1. Hithercroft had begun to ‘up’ their game and were getting more good possession. At 12.21pm Tyrone was pushed in the back whilst inside the Penn 18-yard box and Frank Smith made no mistake with the resulting penalty, putting the ball just inside the left-hand post and closing the gap to 5-2. No further goals were scored before the final whistle and Penn had demonstrated how good a team they are.

Hithercroft had played well, especially in the latter stages but were lacking in mid-field. Frank was deservedly named by Pat as ‘Man-of-the-match’ and both Paul Morgan and Mark Sadler were commended for their efforts.