L.Phillips

O.Evans

Match-day Squad: Dafydd Davies, James Edwards, Owen Evans, Luciana Linciano, Steffan Lupton, Toby Oliver, Morgan Pemberton, Luke Phillips, Matthew Phipps, Cameron Underwood.

It was great to see the team back in action following the recent spell of postponed fixtures. Both teams deserve huge credit for producing an excellent match on what was a bitterly cold morning, made even cooler by a strong wind. The cold conditions saw a tactical decision taken by the Cimla coach to use Dafydd, Morgan, Steffan and Toby each playing in goal for a quarter of the match.

As the game kicked off, a bright start by the away side saw them force an early corner, which was well defended by Cimla. The home side then settled well as Morgan, Toby, Owen and Steffan were all involved as Cimla produced pressure of their own, through a succession of corner kicks. Luke, who had come on as replacement for Cameron was immediately involved in some good defensive work to break up a Rhos attack. This was followed by excellent defensive work from Matthew to foil another promising Rhos move. Then a good break forward from Owen was unlucky not to find anyone in the centre as he played the ball in. In the move of significance Owen found Morgan who in turn fed in Toby who was to see his effort well saved by the Rhos keeper. There followed an even spell of play, which saw Dafydd increasingly involved as he had been replaced in goal by Morgan. A well contested first half came to an end as a ball ricocheted between James and an opponent resulting in both players taking unpleasant knocks to the face, made all the worse by the extreme cold. Both sets of players were doubtlessly congratulated by their respective coaches, on what had been an extremely competitive opening period.

Early in the second half Rhos were unlucky not to take the lead as they looked certain to force the ball into the Cimla net but were denied by a triple save from Steffan in goals. Generally the game followed a pattern of well contested and even play with Dafydd and Lucianna battling well in the middle of the field for the home side. With the game having entered the final quarter, and Toby having taken up the goal-keeping duties for the remainder of the match, a long ball down the middle of the field was chased down by Luke who showed good determination to pressure the goalkeeper then finish neatly past the covering defender for his first goal of the season. Rhos however were determined to continue to battle and the home side needed some strong tackling from James and good covering from Matthew to preserve the lead. A further spell of Cimla pressure from a corner saw Morgan feed a ball through for Owen to finish and make it 2-0. The players congratulated each other on an excellent contest at the final whistle, but were also keen to get off the pitch and get warmed up.

Well Done Boys (and Girl) on an excellent season up to the Christmas break.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for 2008 to and from all concerned with the Under 8s.