Match Review

7th January 2001 Ravenshead B 1 v 2 Burton Joyce

Scorers: Sam Smith, Mathew Powroznyk

With the thought of mince pies and selection boxes fading away fast it was time to start thinking about the 2nd half of the season. We still have two teams to play even once due to postponements but today was the away fixture against Ravenshead. They had already beaten us 2-1 earlier in the season which was one of those matches where we said "How did that happen?"

Anyway, as we know, all matches should be taken on their own merit. He had heard before the game that Ravenshead were looking forward to the game as they thought they had a half decent chance of beating us. Weather was fair and the pitch soft but not muddy.

The game started fairly evenly with both sides using the width of the pitch effectively. Both goalkeepers were forced into making saves early on but the deadlock was broken on 10 minutes when Sam Smith scored with a nicely struck shot from inside the area. The BJ supporters, once again present in some numbers, breathed a sigh of relief.The discussion had barely died down when Sam once again picked the ball up midway into their half and shot towards goal, the effort was cleared and went straight to Mathew Powroznyk on the half-way line, he took two steps with the ball and decided to have a crack, he has one of the strongest shots in the team. He had time to take aim and fire, the ball went straight through all the players and hit the back of the net, probably goal of the season. (Ok - so I'm bound to be biased!) 2-0.

A bizarre incident followed when a shot by Ravenshead hit Mathew's face, bounced off Jamie Gibbs and was slotted into the back of the net by an alert Ravenshead player. Mathew Powroznyk was on the floor nursing a sore nose and whilst the managers attended him we noticed that James Bird, our captain, was also on the floor further up the field. Mathew was taken off to recover and reappeared later but James, who had suffered some sort of pull at the back of the knee, was to play no further part in the game for safety reasons. Half Time 2-1.

The second half saw our subs, Niels Hart, Tom Parkinson and James Clark make an appearance. The half proved to be pretty uneventful but Tom Parkinson was really unlucky when a great shot from the edge of the penalty struck the cross-bar bounced up and Tom was quick to react and head the ball back towards goal. The Ravenshead goalkeeper, who had a very good game, moved quickly to produce a good save.

BJ managed to hang on to get a 2-1 victory. Mention must be made of Anthony Kefer who worked hard the entire match and was brilliant in holding up the ball up front. Chris Jackson also played very well and was very solid in defence.

Mention should also be made of the hospitality shown by the Ravenshead managers and parents, a penalty shoot-out followed the game and both set of boys had a really good time, at this age thats what its all about. Thanks Ravenshead!

Verdict : A good game and a good victory. A nice start to 2001.

Manager's Comment : "This was also going to be one of those unpredictable games. It was nice to redress the balance. To be honest the lads were half-a-yard slow, probably due to post Christmas lethargy but I'm sure that will go away in time for the next match."

Performance of the Week : Mathew Powroznyk - Mathew scored a terrific goal from almost the half-way line and worked really hard in training. Well Done Mathew!!

Go Back