All Change here.  This season we’ll be following a new start-up team – Canvey Island U13′s.  Having seen the boys training, and holding their own against the Canvey Island U14′s in a couple of half hour friendlies, it’s looking to be quite an exciting season.  Will as always post the match photos here, and may this season end up having to write match reports to accompany them for my sins.

Watch this space for match Photos – If any parents have specific concerns about their own children being photographed, please speak to Lee or Greg, failing that come and have a chat with me at one of the matches.

Friendly Matches

17th July 2011 – Friendly against Canvey U14′s

League Matches

CIFC U13 vs Deanswood – 2nd October 2011 – First League game of the season for the Canvey Island Youth U13 team. CIFC showed a promising start to the season with some great attacking play, making some great chances for themselves which unfortunately never quite came off. A draw was a fair result after trailing for most of the second half and equalising with a late goal.

Deanswood Tigers vs CIFC U13 – 9th October 2011 – An away trip to Deanswood Tigers and the boys narrowly lost their first game this year by one goal after pulling 2 back after trailing 5-2. Following a chaotic 15 minute period in the second half the boys pulled themselves together and regained shape to bring themselves back into the match – Final score 5-4. Lots learnt from this game, and very proud to be the first team to score 4 against Tigers. Onwards and upwards, well played boys.

Great Wakering Colts – Home Match 23rd October 2011 – Another good performance from the boys saw off a challenging team, resulting in a well deserved 3-1 this week. Following a late party Saturday night for half of the team it was a shaky start with some lethargic tackles and minimal communication. As the lads woke up the game improved considerably, with some great moves up front, solid defending and a lively midfield. Another well deserved win. Keep up the good work boys.

Island Boys- Home Match 6th November 2011 – Despite not being a great performance from them, the boys saw off a surprising early challenge resulting in another 3-1 win this week. Keep up the good work boys.

Island Boys- Away Match 12th November 2011 – By far the best team performance of the season, one which could have easily led to them scoring many more than the 11 (12 if the offside one counts) that they buried in total. From the first whistle, the ball was pinned in the Island Boys half, with shot after shot being deflected or over the bar. Just as the spectators were wondering if it was ever going to find the back of the net, the first one went in, followed by another two at half time. After the first couple in the second half, the Island Boys spirits dropped as we clattered the ball from them with pretty much every foray forward. Some great passing tore the Island Boys defence to pieces, leaving us 4th in the league with 2 games in hand. Well done lads.

** Apologies for the photos from the first half – Shooting into the sun is never a brilliant idea………

Cup Matches

Two new signings allowed some flexibility in midfield this week, which paid off in spades after a great team performance fired us through to the second round of the cup after tonking Deanswood Pumas 6-0. It was a cautious start to a match against our opponents from the first game of the season but some great battling and quality passing paid off leaving us 2-0 up at half time. Instead of sitting back and defending the lead, we continued to press forward after the whistle, raining shots left right and centre. Quality skirmishes in midfield left the defence with little to do, though when called upon for the few chances Deanswood tried to create the ball was won and cleared with no fuss or drama. Demoralised, Deanswood didn’t even look like they were in the game for the majority of the second half and if half the missed chances had gone in it would certainly have been a double figure whitewash. Well done to the entire team, keep up the great work !!
Match Pictures/Slideshow here

Forest Glade – Round 2
After a good start for the first 10 minutes. A cheeky shot from a free kick and a penalty shortly after saw the team disintegrate into what an only be described as a bit of a shambles. For the rest of the first half it was difficult to separate the midfield from the defence and unsurprisingly we ended up 3-0 down at the whistle. The second half was marginally better, with improvement in midfield leading to more chances on goal which were not capitalised. a 4-1 defeat was probably a fair result for the performance today. Have to pick it up again for next week.
Photographically speaking, it was somewhat challenging this week, what with not being able to see the other side of the pitch. Not many photos at all, but watch this space for the ‘Rogues Gallery’ an interesting collection of hats and expressions as seen from the sideline.What few photos were worth keeping are available here