The young bulls win third competitive game in the row after coming back from 3-1 down
After two FA Youth Cup victories the UITC boys followed up with a win in their first league fixture against Cheltenham Town 4-3. Chris May opening his seasons account before a Carlos Moreira hatrick snatched victory.
Cheltenham will feel they did enough to get something out of the game and I would have to agree with them. They started the better side with some good penetrating football. Our problem was too many short passes allowing them to get around and stifle us. I said to the lads at half time and after the game that although I never want to encourage 'long ball', sometimes a ball in behind a defence has to happen to allow make the defence play deeper, allowing us then the space we need for our passing football. They implemented this more as the game went on and we got our rewards.
Chris May opened the scoring just past the midway point of the first half, out muscling his opponent and getting on Alex Lilwalls free kick. Lilwall now has 7 assists in 3 games, something that deserves a mention and a lot credit. After this foothold we finished the second half strongly and Carlos will be disappointed not to have added to the lead, having two good chances when fed by Lilwall and Lewis Fletcher.
The second half started slowly, something we have to look at as it is becoming a trend, and Cheltenham took advantage. 3 goals in the space of 20mins made the game look out of reach for us and highlighted areas we need to work on. However the attitude, desire, work rate and pride the boys have to wear the hereford shirt is what won us the game. It is something you can't coach into a player and something that unfortunately seems to be hard to find in football now a days with too many players getting an easy ride, especially in the 'development' teams from higher leagues. The most pleasing thing for me is that our boys have it.
We changed to a 3-4-1-2 formation to get something out of the game. A weak clearance from the Cheltenham keeper gave Carlos a big target to hit and he made no mistake with just over 10 minutes to go, then he slotted home after a great solo run. We had a couple of half chances before Carlos was brought down in the box in the last minute. He picked himself up and completed his Hatrick to keep our 100% record this season.
The game was a wake up call for us that it is going to be a tough season but the work they lads put in and the way they try to learn every day will get us far. Next up is the FA Youth Cup tie away at Bilston and if we progress we will be hoping for a home draw so that HUFC fans, past and present, can get behind a hungry young team trying to prove what they can do
Team: Benn Pugh, Matt James, Simon Morgan, Joe Davies, Chris May, Lewis Fletcher, Tom James, James Obern, Alex Lilwall, Carlos Moreira, Tom Gameso. Subs: Liam Taylor, Matt Owen, Will Lawley
Thankyou
Rob Purdie