U9's held to 1-1 draw in Cup

Leyland Albion 'Youth' 1 - 1 Red Rose Juniors

Played at Preston Sports Arena due to weather conditions causing both pitches to be unplayable.

Straight from the kick off Leyland showed they meant business and surged forward towards the Red Rose goal. After intense pressure our keeper, C Unsworth pulled off an excellent save to deny a certain goal.

3mins: Red Rose started to wake up and J Wilson had a good solo run down the left wing to shoot at goal, but the keeper saved. Leyland counter-attacked, but again our Captain pulled off a tremendous save.

6mins: Red Rose started to pass the ball, with B Fagan starting the move to L Foley who then squared the ball for J Wilson to shoot, but again the Leyland keeper stopped it.

9 mins: Leyland attacked down the right and then crossed the ball into our penalty area. Poor marking allowed the Leyland striker time to control and shoot unhindered to make it 1 – 0 to Leyland.

For the next 13 mins it was all Leyland with C Unsworth working hard to keep the score at 1 nil down. 23 mins: Red Rose put together another good move with plenty of passing and movement but still didn’t look like scoring.

Half Time score : 1 – 0 to Leyland Albion Youth

Substitution (25 mins) : B Fagan, P Chohan off, A O’Rourke and G Hall on. Red Rose were fired up for the re-start and within a minute A O’Rourke sprinted down the wing and crossed to J Wilson who was blocked by the keeper. L Foley was there to gather the rebound and blast the ball in to level the scores. 1 – 1.

Leyland didn’t give in, they continued where they left off in the first half, with Red Rose struggling to pass the ball. Leyland were the better footballing side and passed the ball around with ease, only to be stopped by resolute defending by C Bayley several times.

Red Rose were a shadow of the team that’s done so well over the last 2 months. Substitution (38 mins) : C Dick off, B Fagan on.

The match started to fizzle out but Leyland still looked more likely to score. G Hall battled away in midfield with little or no support from the rest of midfield.

Substitution (45 mins) : J Wilson off, P Chohan on.

Final Score: Leyland Albion Youth 1 – 1 Red Rose Juniors.

Overall, a poor performance by Red Rose but part of this was down to a determined Leyland team who wanted to win the game much more than we did and played better football.

Man of the Match: Despite some occasional instances of good play we were not at our best, apart from one player, our Captain. He undoubtedly kept the score to a draw, without him Leyland would have romped away to a win. Well done to C Unsworth, a real skipper’s performance!