|
Saturday 15th November 2008
Bilton Ajax U9’s 0 – 2 Banbury Irish
You only need to look at the Bilton Ajax U9’s stats to realise that the young players have had a baptism of fire in their inaugural season in Mid-Warwickshire Junior League U9 Division 1.
However, despite the results, all of the young men have thoroughly enjoyed themselves and with the dedication of their manager Steve Uranjek and enthusiastic support of their family & friends they have learnt something, and grown stronger, with every match they play.
Following the euphoria of a 7-0 victory (their first ever) last week in a friendly match against a Mid-Warwickshire U9 Division 2 side, the boys faced Banbury Irish at home for the second time this season.
The visitors may well have been expecting another walkover victory as in their first ever encounter, but in fact found themselves facing a formidable coordinated and competent opposition in the young Bilton Ajax side. Both teams battled well and in an enthralling end-to-end first half either team could have scored at any moment. Banbury Irish eventually closed the first half with a 2-goal advantage.
Bilton Ajax kept the Banbury Irish defence fully occupied in the second half and both sides were unlucky not to score. For the first time this season the second half finished goalless and Banbury Irish ran out winners having enjoyed a thrilling game against comparable opposition.
The young Bilton Ajax side can only go from strength to strength and it is only a matter of time now until they convert the good chances they have been creating over the last few games.
Saturday 22nd November 2008
Wellesbourne U9’s 3 – 0 Bilton Ajax
Bilton Ajax needed to prove that last weeks improvement in ability was no fluke, and they did so today with a determined and often gritty performance against a Wellesbourne side that trounced them 8-0 in the League Cup just a few weeks ago.
The young Bilton Ajax side looked a bit shaky in the first-half as they allowed a disciplined Wellesbourne to convert 3 well practiced corner pieces, but beyond these set pieces Wellesbourne struggled to penetrate the increasingly solid Bilton Ajax defence in open play, and Bilton Ajax in return narrowly missed a couple of chances at the Wellesbourne end.
Once again an exciting and enthralling second-half saw a revitalised Bilton Ajax take over the game, and in a half where Wellesbourne never really looked like scoring, Bilton Ajax definitely could have. Lady luck did not shine on the young Bilton Ajax side today as they again proved that their second-half stamina and their increasing awareness of players around them will see goals flowing in the very near future.
Saturday 29th November 2008
Woodford United Juniors 7 – 2 Bilton Ajax
Just as predicted, and right on cue, Bilton Ajax banished their league goal demon to the dressing room by scoring in both halves in their latest Mid-Warwickshire Junior League U9’s Division 1 encounter away to an experienced and organised Woodford United Juniors. To be fair to the young Bilton Ajax players, the final score does not accurately reflect their performance and competitiveness in this game.
A slow start in the first-half saw Woodford walk-in three goals before several counter attacks by Bilton Ajax eventually enabled Ben to find the back of the net to thunderous cheers and applause from the loyal away supporters. Bilton Ajax kept up the pressure only to see Woodford sneak two more break-away goals just before half-time.
In another highly competitive end-to-end second-half solid performances from Scott and Aaron at the back enabled several piercing runs through midfield eventually forcing a wild challenge by the Woodford defence; Liam S slotted the resulting penalty neatly into the back of the net. Two more break-away goals from Woodford finished the game off despite continuing pressure from the Bilton Ajax side on the Woodford defence.
Scorers Ben, Liam S (pen)
Captain Scott
MOTM Liam S
Saturday 17th January 2009
St. Peters Celtic 4 – 0 Bilton Ajax
A disappointing start to 2009 saw the young Bilton Ajax side record their first loss of the New Year. This was not because they didn’t play well, in fact the complete opposite, in that they played very well for most of the game apart from a few lapses in concentration that allowed St. Peters Celtic to find the back of the net, most prolifically in the second-half.
Bilton Ajax once again managed to hold out almost all of the first-half goal-less, and in fact had most of the run of play definitely keeping the St. Peters defence on their toes, until the boys in green sneaked a goal in right on the half-time whistle.
The December bad weather, Christmas break and a general lack of game play was very evident in the second-half, as the young Bilton Ajax team looked tired, and were it not for a formidable performance in goal from skipper Henry the score line could have been remarkably worse.
The St. Peters Celtic manager acknowledged at the end of the match that the only difference between the sides this time around was that they scored 4 goals and we didn’t; a vast improvement from their first game at the beginning of the season.
Captain Henry
BACK TO TOP
Saturday 31st January 2009
Bilton Ajax 0 – 7 Woodloes Juniors
Whatever their woes the inexperienced Bilton Ajax side deserve a lot of credit today (as they do every week) for keeping their heads up and remaining competitive against a very well organised and, frankly, much better opposition with Woodloes Juniors visiting for their second encounter of the season.
It was obvious today that the inexperienced Bilton Ajax side need to work on wanting to and winning the 50/50 ball in open play, at the moment they almost invariably allow the opposition to come away with possession of the ball.
The first-half saw Woodloes Juniors score 5 cracking goals and were it not for another solid performance from goalkeeper Henry and some well timed tackles and clearances from the backs and midfielders the score line could again have been much worse.
Following a rousing team talk from Manager Steve at half-time the young Bilton Ajax side put together another much better performance in the second-half as they frustrated Woodloes Juniors to scoring only 2 more goals in the remainder of the game. Tireless running and tackling throughout the match from both Ben and Bradley earned themselves joint man-of-the-match awards.
MOTM (joint) Ben and Bradley
Saturday 21st February 2009
Bilton Ajax 0 – 8 Whitnash Town
Bilton Ajax had a perfect sunny day to try and redress the balance of a 5-0 defeat by Whitnash Town last week in their second encounter in as many weeks as the league tries to catch-up on lost games over the winter.
Despite a positive first-half start and much more competing for possession of the ball the young Bilton Ajax side struggled to clear the ball in defence again allowing the opposition to scramble in a couple of unnecessary goals. More momentary lapses of concentration saw Whitnash Town tuck away another brace of goals in the lead-up to half-time.
Bilton Ajax threatened much more in the second-half forcing a few errors from the mostly untroubled Whitnash Town defence and were unlucky not to grab a consolation goal or two. Well practiced corner routines were again the downfall of the Bilton Ajax defence in the second-half and despite solid performances from joint men-of-the-match Olly and Liam S, Whitnash ran out easy winners scoring 4 more good goals before the very welcome full-time whistle.
Captain Henry
MOTM (joint) Olly and Liam S
BACK TO TOP
Saturday 28th February 2009
Alveston 7 – 0 Bilton Ajax U9’s
This was probably one of the toughest and yet one of the best performances by the young Bilton Ajax side away to league leaders Alveston. Tactical changes by Manager Steve designed to hold formation and widen the field of play paid dividend as they enjoyed more and better possession of the ball than they have had in previous matches.
To be fair to Alveston they were always going to win, but to be equally fair to Bilton Ajax it was not the walkover that might have been expected in a top vs. bottom of the table clash. Every one of the young Bilton Ajax players gave 100% effort this week and as they are visibly progressing in both skill and confidence they are closing down the opposition more effectively and conceding fewer soft goals than they were at the beginning of the season.
The second-half was one of mixed fortunes for both joint men-of-the-match as Tom bravely took the full force of a well-struck close range free kick on his back and Ben narrowly missed what would have been the goal of the season. A fine Bilton Ajax defensive clearance left the Alveston goalkeeper out of position and Ben’s opportunist effort from over 20 yards narrowly slipped wide of the far post.
Captain Henry
MOTM (joint) Tom and Ben
Saturday 21st March 2009
Bilton Ajax 0 – 4 Snitterfield Colts under 9’s
Today brought a beautiful sunny Saturday morning for the massive horde of family and friends to support the young Bilton Ajax side in their latest Mid-Warwickshire Football League Division 1 clash against mid-table Snitterfield Colts.
The young Bilton Ajax side began the first-half, as they have so many this season, at half-pace and despite commanding a lot of ball possession allowed the much more experienced Snitterfield Colts attack to pierce their defences on several (3 to be exact) occasions.
The second-half is what the young Bilton Ajax side need to do for the full 50 minutes! Superb footballing skills from Liam H earned him the well-deserved Man-Of-The-Match award and the whole team took much more command of the game and threatened the Snitterfield defence on several occasions. Their defence was (almost) impenetrable and their attack was both exciting and vigorating.
If they could only produce two-halves at the pace and determination of their last 5 second-halves a win is only minutes away for these fine young footballers …
Captain Henry
MOTM Liam H
Squad Henry, Scott, Tom, Aaron, Fin, Oli, Liam H, Liam S, Brad, Ben, Alex, Ross (rested)
BACK TO TOP
Saturday 28th March 2009
Bilton Ajax U9’s 0 – 3 Balsall and Berkswell Juniors
The young Bilton Ajax players came out with fire in their boots to produce an absolutely thrilling end-to-end first half with too many sparkling performances to mention in one small paragraph. Good solid defence, especially from Aaron, and piercing through balls from midfield had all of the loyal supporters on the edge of their brollies. This was easily the best first-half performance of the season so far and at 0-0 had the Balsall and Berkswell Juniors more than a little nervous about how they would fair in the second-half.
Unfortunately the young Bilton Ajax may have given too much in the first-half and they looked tired going into the second-half. Then out of nowhere a high through ball cleared the Balsall defence and left just Ben and the goalkeeper but the ball did not bounce quite right for the shot and ended up nestling into the goalkeepers hands. Almost immediately Balsall countered and being unable to clear the ball from defence the opposition managed to scramble their opening goal. Despite still being very much in the game an unfortunate penalty and further scrambled goal finished off Balsall's win.
Bilton Ajax were so close today to turning around their fortunes and all bodes well for the closing few games of the season for them to hopefully find the net, and dare I even suggest a victory?
Captain Henry
MOTM Aaron
Squad Henry, Scott, Tom, Aaron, Fin, Oli, Liam H, Liam S, Brad, Ben, Alex, Ross (injured)
Saturday 11th April 2009
Kenilworth Town 9 – 0 Bilton Ajax
A dank and dreary April morning set the scene for one of the young Bilton Ajax side’s poorer performances of the latter-half of the season. Despite only managing to field 6 players mid-table Kenilworth Town were in control of the game from start to finish, showing just how well they can score goals from just about anywhere within 10 yards of the goal.
In an injury rich game almost every player on both sides suffered some sort of knock at some time, notably goalkeeper skipper Henry retiring hurt a few minutes from the end of the game requiring Ross to step-up to the plate. Liam S battled hard all game to earn himself the Man-Of-The-Match award.
The young Bilton Ajax players have done so well and improved so much over this season, but today was proof (if proof were required) of just how much more they need to improve to become truly competitive at this Division 1 level of football. Too much ball watching and chasing and just not enough gusto in their tackling and passing prevented Bilton Ajax from capitalising on their extra player advantage.
Captain Henry
MOTM Liam S
Squad Henry, Tom, Fin, Oli, Liam H, Liam S, Brad, Ben, Alex, Ross, Scott (Rested), Aaron (Rested)
Back to Top
Saturday 18th April 2009
Bilton Ajax 0 – 5 Kenilworth Warden Juniors
What a difference a week makes as the young Bilton Ajax regained their fighting spirit and remained competitive throughout an exciting end-to-end encounter with 3rd placed Kenilworth Warden Juniors in their penultimate Mid-Warwickshire Football League Division 1 game.
Despite conceding a quick goal almost immediately from the start the young Bilton Ajax side kept their focus and showed much improved movement and possession of the ball in the first-half. Good marking and excellent vision kept the Kenilworth side on their toes and under some pressure at the back.
Unbelievably conceding another goal almost as quickly in the second-half they again kept their composure and troubled the Kenilworth defence even more than in the first-half. Lady luck did not shine again as man-of-the-match Liam S narrowly missed what would have been their first league goal of the season.
With excellent performances from everybody today other candidates for MOTM included Aaron, Oli and Ross for battling hard from the beginning to the end.
Captain Henry
MOTM Liam S
Squad Henry, Tom, Fin, Oli, Liam S, Brad, Alex, Ross, Scott, Aaron, Ben (Rested), Liam H (Rested)
|
