Jets Academy Show Promise

Tokyngton Manor 6 Jets Academy 3

1st September 2009

The All New Jets under-18 Academy team kicked off tonight against a strong Tokyngton Manor Academy away at the old Viking Sports ground on the A40 in Greenford, this being the 1st competitive game and all of the lads apart from 2 being under 16, let alone under 18, so nobody really knew what to expect, except of course knowing that this season with these lads being mostly 2 years younger than most of their opponents, they are going to have it tough.
 
Jets probably started slightly the brighter of the 2 sides and in the windy conditions managed mostly to get the ball down and play the way Jim and Paul want them to, and after 10 minutes Rob Barham stole the ball off of a Tokyngton midfielder and played a short pass to Joe Zazzera,  who slotted a through ball to the right which was picked up by Jets front man Lewis Cook who drove past the left back and smashed the ball low and hard past the keeper and into the far corner of the Tokyngton net from just outside the penalty area, 1-0 to Jets.

The lead didn’t last long though and just a few minutes later there was a slight mix up in the Jets midfield and after a decent passing move the ball fell to the Tokyngton forward who hit a cracking shot low down to the Jets keeper Cameron Inch's right, Cameron made a smart save low down, but in the next attack down the Jets left, a cross came in and although Cameron saved another good strike on our goal sadly this time the ball rebounded to the centre forward who then calmly finished low into the corner of our goal. 1-1 after 17 minutes.

Jets were unlucky not to be back in front on 21 minutes after a Tokyngton attack was stopped and Michael McRoberts, one of the 2 outstanding centre halves for Jets tonight, the other being Richard Jarrett, brought the ball out from the defence and found Jets other forward Liam Coles who beat 2 defenders and played a lovely pass through to Leo Pascoulis who was then 1 on 1 with the keeper only to see his shot bounce off the keeper’s legs and away for a Jets corner.

On 35 minutes Jets had a free kick just inside the Tokyngton half which McRoberts took deep into their penalty area, their big centre half cleared it well but the header fell beautifully to Liam Coles who struck a near perfect volley which flew just the wrong side of the post.

I would say with my unbiased head on overall over the 1st 40 minutes of Academy football for these lads it was a close and hard fought start but Jets were definitely the better side. It went wrong just a couple of minutes before half time, Tokyngton played a defence splitting pass and the ball was latched onto by a very big, quick forward who hit a decent shot low past Cameron to make it 2-1 just before the break. Jets nearly came straight back into it from the restart when Joe Zazzera went past a couple of their midfielders and played in Liam Coles whose shot was parried by the keeper and when Leo followed up the keeper somehow pushed the rebound away to safety.

Unbelievably it got worse right on half time, when the ball went through the Jets defence, Cameron went for the ball but the Manor attacker went over him and Tokyngton scored from the resulting penalty. There wasn’t even enough time for a restart before the Referee (who did a tremendous job, I hope that is the standard of refereeing in the southern counties in general) blew his whistle for half time.
 
Half Time: Tokyngton Manor 3 Oxhey Jets 1
 
It got much worse straight from the start of the second half, as from the kick off the ball went down the Jets left and the winger put in a cross which was met on the full by the centre forward and the ball flew past Cameron giving him no chance and smashed into the roof of the Jets goal to make it 4-1. It wasn’t really at that time a fair reflection of the 1st 46 minutes of the game.

For the next 10- 15 minutes Jets managed to control the game and a shot from Liam Coles went close and their keeper made an excellent save low down to his left, and on 60 mins Michael McRoberts put in a free kick deep into the area and Leo smashed a volley toward the corner of their net, the keeper pulled off the save of the night and the ball bounced away to safety.

Tokyngton unbelievably made it 5-1 when on 64 minutes the ball fell to a Tokyngton midfielder and there seemed to be no danger until he hit a shot from about 25 yards that most of the crowd never saw until it nestled in the Jets net.

To their credit Jets never gave up trying to play the right way and at times moved the ball around really well and got the reward they deserved on 72 minutes. Jake Davidson, (who really is the son of the legend that is and was Pete Davidson, who graced the Jets 3rd and 4th teams for many years) the only difference being Jake can run, oh yes, and pass the ball, oh yes and can actually take in information and will in no doubt improve well over the coming years, played a sweet pass to Lewis Cook, who then played a lovely pass to Liam Coles who went down the left, looked up and played a lovely inch perfect pass back to Lewis Cook who easily sidestepped the defender and lifted the ball over the keeper and made it 5-2.

Strangely Jets were in total command and when Lewis Cook got to a through ball just before the defender and keeper and managed to roll it under them both, the score was 5-3 and the Tokyngton bench and players seemed to be a bit nervous. They didn’t need to be as with 5 minutes to go a cross came in from the Jets left and the ball fell invitingly to their centre forward who shot the ball high past Cameron to make the final score 6-3.

The lads face a big challenge this year, are playing sides which will for the most part be 2 years their senior, who have previous experience of Academy level football, and have probably been together building their sides for a huge amount of time longer than ours. But,with luck tonight, we could possibly have got something out of the game, the lads never stopped trying and they try and play football the right way, so there is lots of promise. With the continued support of their parents, the club, and people around the club, I have no doubt in my mind that this will be a successful Academy.

Now we look forward to next Wednesday night at 7.30 against Hillingdon Borough at our home ground.