Another weekend of English weather saw Continental Star u16s make the short trip to local rivals Football Futures.  With not many games being played due to the weather, it was an opportunity for Star to close the gap on league leaders, Sutton Utd and increase the gap over 3rd placed Marston Green to 10 points.

Due to injuries and unavailability, we began the game with solely 11 players.  With a few players showing their positional versatility, it was a patient start before we got into the swing of things. Futures began to apply pressure as the half went on but to no effect.  With this pressure, came ill discipline; as gaps and a very high defensive line allowed Star to utilise the pace upfront from Kieron, Kory and Dante.

With the pitch worsening with every move, a through ball from Kory set Kieron on his way who set the ball back for Shaquille to score…. But not quite!  As the boggy under earth prevented the ball running true into the goal, stopping on the line.

As fate would prevail, Star were helpless soon after as a strike from the edge of the box following a defensive header, resulted in Tasian losing his footing and slipping while attempting to prevent a goal to no avail. 1-0

This seemed to spur on Star who began to play (where possible) in the right areas, causing problems for Futures’ defence, but failing to find the finishing touch going into half time. HT

By highlighting opposition faults and enforcing that we have to play to the conditions. Star began the 2nd half in the ascendancy. With Natty “I’ll run through a brick wall” Williams recovering to then play a neat ball down the line to Dante, a pass to Shaquille resulted in a cross falling to the unmarked Kieron at the back post who slammed the ball into the roof of the net to equalise. 1-1

This joy was short lived, as a defensive lapse in concentration allowed Futures to break from the middle third through on goal.  The initial shot was saved by Tasian, with a klinsmanesque dive, face first into the now swamp of a goal mouth, only to fall back to the Futures’ forward who grabbed his 2nd.  2-1

“If it’s not broken, why change it?” This was the ethos, as Star continued to dominate as more applied pressure allowed us to create chance after chance.  Star soon got what they deserved.  A through ball from Reshea “Yaya Toure” Seville set top goal-scorer Shaquille away to finally get himself on the score sheet.  2-2

Minutes later Star took the lead, as some outstanding pressing from Dante allowed Shyieme to cross, to a yet again an unmarked Kieron at the back post, who this time decided to use his knee to divert the ball past the Futures’ keeper. 2-3

Soon after scoring his second goal, Kieron was forced to come off after feeling short of breathe and dizzy. So, now 10 men Star again united to build on what they had created.  With Star continuing their offensive pressure, Raekwon “I’ll catch you, get the ball and play” Pitt had to also withdraw from the field after feeling an over stretch.

With now only 9 men on the field Star showed their maturity and intellectual advantage by playing in the correct areas and continuing to put Futures on the back foot.  During yet another positive move, Dante was through on goal, but he saw his shot saved only to fall at the feet of Kory “Demba Ba” Williamson to make it 2-4; making it look like it was Futures who had the 9 men on the field.

With less than 10 minutes to play, Futures seemed to have given up, hoping to hear the final whistle.  Joshua “Micah Richards” Wilson was now playing through the pain barrier.  The pitch prevented the ball running true to make it 5 following a shot from Shaquille.

With the now 8 and a half players toying with Futures’ 11, after a well worked move from back to front starting from stand-in full back Lathi “I’ll play anywhere” Musa, ending with Shaquille rounding the grounded Futures goalkeeper to grab his 2nd and make it a 5 Star show!

With the Futures’ goalkeeper being warned twice previously about his conduct after kicking out at player, he reacted poorly to conceding his 5th by pushing Shaquille while he was getting to his feet which resulted in a confrontation between the two teams.  Consequently, both players received a straight Red card.  Ironically, the final whistle came at the restart of play.

Minus the last 10 seconds of the game myself and Casey are immensely proud of the 11 players that competed yesterday.  Showing superior quality and maturity to come out deserved winners. Well done to:  Tasian, Natty, Raekwon, Joshua, Lathi, Reshea, Shyieme, Shaquille, Dante, Kory and Kieron.  You all have represented the club in a positive manner (minus final 10 seconds) and should all be proud of yourselves.

#inyouthwetrust

#stillwerise

#workiswhatgetsresults

 Report by: Coach – Daniel Moses (10/02/13)

The following report was written by CSFC u16s Centre Back, Joshua Wilson.

Today saw Continental Star under 16’s play Cadbury Athletic.  What a marvellous game to be a part of, but it had a down beat nonchalant casual beginning; as we underestimated the effects that the festive period would bring.  The game went under way; the poor beginning put the Star behind due to a wonderful floated ball from the opposing centre midfielder, that deceived the defence, and the cool calm collective Cadbury striker, casually put the ball into the bottom left corner.

As the game restarted we noticed that there was a problem with our lack lustre performance, and noted our errors and promptly corrected them. Mistakes eradicated, we then managed to play the ball out from the back, to Shaquille, he skilfully cut inside and played a Messi ‘look-away’ through ball to Kieron, who was making a cross field run behind the opposing back line; he has a striker’s instinct and calmly slotted the ball home to level the game.  Ironically, the roles were reversed as we scored our next goal: Kieron played Shaquille through and he smartly sent the keeper the other way, before slotting the ball home to put Star into the lead; sealing off the first half.

As the second half got back underway, we had an inspiring team talk from Daniel and Casey (Coaches) which motivated us to shine like stars, and put the game to bed; their wish is our command, so we did our duties.  The third goal was tremendous in my opinion, Man of the match, Shaquille took the game by the scruff of the neck, and showed everyone his talent by producing an indescribable piece of skill, cutting in from the left wing, committing two defenders along the by-line and finishing home underneath the Cadbury keeper.

Then for the final goal to settle the game, the athletic Joshua Wilson (Me) had taken the ball the whole length of the pitch, breaking through tackles, beating players at will, to finally get fouled at the edge 18 yard box; resulting in a player being red carded for the losing team, just to rub salt into the wounds.  The resulting free kick was taken by the confident Shy who had the audacity to stroke the ball into the top right corner, to end the game 4 – 1.

Report by Joshua Wilson – future First Team Captain! (6/01/13)

Sunday saw the Continental Star U13s return to league action against Astwood Colts. Our League form this season has been exceptional and it was important that we carried last year’s form into the New Year.

As the game got under way it was clear to see that the majority of our starting eleven was feeling the strain, as they had not played for three weeks. The boys were second to every ball, pulling out of 50/50’s and missing clear cut opportunities. We were very scrappy in the middle of the park and continually allowed our opposition space and time on the ball. At times the boys showed glimpses of their previous form and played some good football. Most of our positive play came down the left side. We broke down the left on three occasions within ten minutes but were unable to capitalise due to wanting to much time on the ball and forcing the play. Astwood Colts rarely ever threatened in the first half as they found it difficult to overcome the power and pace of our defence. As the first half came to an end, the game remained scoreless; it was a very disappointing half of football from both sides and neither side really got out of the blocks.

After a quick half time talk and a tactical change the boys went back out in a new formation. For the first time this season we played 4-6-0, that’s right, we played with no striker simply six across the middle. This change immediately changed the game as Astwood Colts found it near impossible to get the ball past our midfield line, never mind our defence. We soon began playing the football the earned us so many positive results in games previous. We were playing football from the back to the front and defending as a unit. With fifteen minutes played in the second half we quickly broke down the middle. An impressive pass by Hameedh Hassan was latched onto by Ross Reid. Reid went one on one with the opposing goalkeeper but had his shot saved. Kehnan Williamson then put in the rebound from close range; it was now 1-0 to Stars. Ten minutes later a commanding run by Lekarri Moses, down the left hand side, saw him score an impressive solo effort to make it 2-0 to Stars. After this goal it was all one way traffic. Stars completely ran away with the game and became unplayable. With this being said they continued to miss chance after change. According to my count, if they converted all missed chances they would of ran out 13-0 winners as Astwood failed to create any clean cut chances throughout the game.

Even though our finishing was something to be desired, the boys continued to play some decent football and fought on for what can only be described as a scrappy 3 points. Well done Stars.

Man of The Match: Likkle Snm Christian Lukoki

Goal Scorers: Lekarri Moses (1) Kehnan Williamson (1)

Report By: Ras Matthew 6/01/13