Hallsy's Academy Report - Monday Night Special

Due to the adverse weather conditions this winter Worthing College Football Academy 1st XI still have 8 games remaining, therefore this extra Monday game took place against top of the table and unbeaten City College Brighton and Hove. Stand in skipper for the day and goalkeeper James Fernandes takes up the action...

Worthing College vs Brighton City College
Half time – Worthing College 1-1 Brighton City College
Full Time – Worthing College 3-1 Brighton City College

Worthing College Line – Up

Fernandes (c)
Taylor
Colwell
Staines
Giammattei
Clark
Dowell
Nemeth
Standing
O’ Connor
Charman

Subs:
Herbert
Rance

Goal scorers:
Dowell
Nemeth
Herbert


First Half

Worthing knew that they had a big test ahead of them in this match with the quality that Brighton City College have. Due to suspensions, illness and unavailability manager Dave Hall had to use some of the 2nd team players to boost his squad. Worthing started to first half brightly knocking the ball around nicely and winning headers and tackles etc. Brighton City College obviously are a very talented group of players and they started to get into gear as the half went on. Brilliant work by Clark in winning headers against tall opposition, Nemeth with his quick feet moved towards the left hand channel, pulled off a nice pass with Standing and from this Nemeth received it back moving away from his marker and winning a free kick just past the half way line. With a strong wind behind Worthing in the first half they knew they had to test the oppositions defence, from this Giammattei stepped up confidently to take the free kick and delivered a superb ball over the top and there was Dowell leaping to nod it past the goalkeeper – Worthing 1-0 Brighton City College.

Brighton City College by now had stepped up a gear pushing men forward more often but Worthing’s centre backs Colwell and Staines stood firm and played a very good game. The opposition kept coming and Fernandes had to come out confidently to catch 2 crosses to calm things down, throughout the first half the shape of the back 4 was top class. Eventually the goal came for the opposition when good movement down the right channel lead to their striker picking the ball up and blasting past Fernandes – Worthing College 1-1 Brighton City College. There was a big call for the referee during the build up of the goal because one of the Worthing defenders feels as if they were fouled in the build up which lead to the striker scoring. The game was starting to fire up as tackles were beginning to fly in from Giammattei, Colwell, Staines and Clark but all successfully winning their tackles. Right Winger O’ Connor was working hard to help Taylor out and managing to get up with play as well to help striker Charman which showed great work rate. Charman showed off his strength by holding off their centre back and pulled a shot wide of the post. End of first half.

Second Half

The message from manager Dave Hall at half time was to keep battling throughout the half and get a result. Worthing had the disadvantage of playing against the wind this half so they knew that they needed to keep tight at the back. From the whistle to start the second half the Brighton City College central midfielder tried a speculative shot from inside his own half but was caught comfortable by Fernandes. Worthing started the second half as well as they did in the first, passing the ball nicely. Standing and O’Connor were making brilliant runs down the left flank and the right flank which were picked out a couple of times nicely by the three midfield players Nemeth, Clark and Dowell. As the half went on passes starting to string together from Brighton City College, their captain beat 2 Worthing players and pulled off a shot which Fernandes was equal to by putting the ball around the post. Worthing progressed and Colwell pulled off a brilliant block to deny the opposing striker, from this Clark picked up the ball and thread through a brilliant ball to Nemeth who beat one man and sent O’Connor on his bike after the ball down the right wing, O’Connor pulled of a excellent cross which Nemeth ran onto and headed past the goalkeeper – Worthing 2-1 Brighton City College.

Worthing had now moved up a gear with the encouragement of people watching from the sidelines and Dave Hall. As the game moved on Dave Hall made his first substitute by bringing off work horse Standing and replaced him with Rance. On the other hand Brighton City College knew that they had to get back into this game and started to flood men forward and it took an amazing block on the line by Taylor to deny the oppositions left winger. Worthing were now under pressure and needed to get more of the ball and play their own type of football, manager Dave Hall made another substitution by introducing Herbert who replaced Charman, Herbert went straight to the striker position. He made a big impact by scoring about 10 minutes since coming on when the ball was played through to him and Herbert running on to it 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper and slotting it under him – Worthing 3-1 Brighton City College. Dowell had moved into a more defensive side to the midfield and winning tackles well. Taylor and Giammattei offered pace down the left and right wings, whilst Staines and Colwell stood firm to deny any more attacks from the opposition from Brighton. Full Time

As you can tell from the report another fantastic team performance from the lads. The players that came into the squad were excellent and this gives me a few headaches for the remaining games. The Academy as a whole has developed so much this season and great credit must go to each Academy member for the efforts and abilities throughout the season. However we are now 2 wins out of 2 and now must go into the next game (Sussex Downs) full of confidence.

Lets keep this run going!

Onwards & Upwards,

Hallsy