Match Report:
Tring Athletic Reds 3 - Beaconsfield Town Youth 1
Scorers: Tom Ainsworth, Alex Holmes & Adam Connors
Resilient, hard-working performance pays off.

We were under pressure right from the start today, playing into the wind, up the hill and into the sun. It was a tough period where the boys had to be incredibly resilient in the face of relentless attacks from a well organised Beaconsfield side. We were fortunate to take the lead on the 10th minute when Tom neatly chipped their keeper in a very rare foray into the Beaconsfield half. With a strong wind at their back, Beaconsfield continued to pressure our goal for the remainder of the half, our back 4 and defensive midfield were immense and dealt well with wave after wave of attack. As the half wore on, we managed to stabilise things a little and went 2 ahead on 33 minutes when a clever free-kick from Adam was neatly converter by Holmes sniffing around the 6 yard box. At 2-0, I hoped to close out the half (unlike last week) however the pressure from Beaconsfield finally told when the converted a cross from the left on 46(+) minutes.

At half time I told the boys not to dwell on their late goal, we needed to focus on stronger tackling, being first to the ball and better decision making.

The second half was much more even, we changed our shape slightly to deal with their inevitable overload in midfield and gradually we took control of the game. The defence continued to be outstanding (they had to be) and Charlie looked very assured in goal, making one point-blank save at a really important stage in the game (he made many more saves but that one stands out). We were fortunate to be awarded a free-kick on 77 minutes which Adam expertly (Mata -like) converted to put us 3-1 ahead. After that we managed the game very well, if anything we could have scored a couple more as Connor and Harrison in particular exploited the space as Beaconsfield pushed on.

Final Score 3-1

Last week was a hard lesson for our boys - it says a lot about their character that they came out this week and faced up to the challenge from a very capable Beaconsfield Town side. There were great performances across the team but I thought our captain completely led from the front today, involved in everything defensively, getting an assist and scoring his first goal of the season. In football you need to work hard, take your chances and make a little bit of luck along the way - we did all of that today and got what we deserved. The away manager congratulated the boys, commenting that the win was well deserved. The referee spoke to me at the end and said he continues to be impressed with the manner in which we conduct ourselves and play our football.

Charlie McLeod (GK), Alfie Sharrocks, Adam Connors, Charlie Thomson, Josh Maxfield
Finn Euston-Moore, Harrison Cornick, Dylan Whitehead, Tom Selwyn, Tom Ainsworth
Alex Holmes
Subs, Dylan McAule, Max Steel, Harvey Chamberlain, Connor Fitzgerald

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