It was a fourth straight home game for the Under 16s on a crisp December morning. The Horton View pitch was looking a little worse for wear, with the weather changing, and obviously a lot of football played on it. It was very muddy, bobbly and not ideal for playing good passing football.

We started the game very brightly, and took the lead as soon as the third minute. A corner was played into the box, Ollie E helped the ball on and Tyra was on hand to prod into the net and past the goalkeeper. For the first ten minutes of the game we were looking very dangerous, and it appeared that we could score on every occasion we attacked. But in this period we didn't really work the Droitwich keeper enough when we were in the ascendancy. The closest we came was when Toby hit the ball into the side netting from a tight angle.

Droitwich were coping well with the tricky conditions, and were seemingly bypassing the boggy midfield, and playing it quickly through to three high forward players, and slowly they grew into the game. Despite this we seemed comfortable and although Nathan came and took a couple of crosses into the box, we were under little threat.

It was therefore disappointing to concede the equaliser 8 minutes before half time. We failed to clear the ball properly on two occasions, then a slip in the box allowed a Droitwich striker to nip in and dispatch the ball into the net off the post. 1-1.

Pablo had a good low strike at goal well saved by the keeper, and Lewis fired into the side netting after a driving run forward into the penalty box, as we pushed to regain the lead. However, it remained level at the interval.

At half time we talked about playing in the right areas of the pitch, defensively dealing with the ball early and decisively and given the tricky conditions clearing the ball quickly and not taking any chances.

As the second half started though, it seemed the coaches words of warning weren't taken on board, as once more we were caught on the ball at the back, and the Droitwich player raced through on goal, and slid the ball past Nathan to give the away team the lead for the first time. 1-2.

Zach came close to equalising twice for United. The first chance was dragged wide as the ball fell to him on the edge of the penalty area. The second was cleared off the line after Zach improvised well to scoop the ball over the keeper, but not past the defender who had retreated to clear the danger on the goal line.

Will was the next player to come agonisingly close to scoring, some nice football in the midfield, led to Will racing through on goal, he beat the keeper to the ball, lobbing it over his head, but also just over the bar! We were creating the better chances, but not taking them.

Droitwich then effectively wrapped up the game with two quickfire goals. Defensively it wasn't our day, and we were caught out of position for both strikes. The first a low strike into the corner after a mazy run. The second a ball slid through to the striker on the right wing, and he cut in and fired into the back of the net.

With the clock ticking down, we did give a bit of respectability to the score line. Lewis embarked on a run just inside his own half, he beat no fewer than five players as he slalomed his way into the box, before getting a shot of at goal that the keeper done well to save low down. A real pity as this would almost certainly of been a goal of the season contender. Pablo was quickest to react to the loose ball, and was subsequently brought down and a penalty awarded. Lewis stepped up to take the penalty and found the bottom left corner to make it 2-4.

To their credit the lads never gave up and continued to push for another goal, with Fin, creating a number of good openings following an impressive display in the CAM position particularly in the second half. But it wasnt to be, we couldn't add to our two goals, and Droitwich took the three points.

A disappointing result for the lads in a game of small margins. Its a cliché, but football matches are won and lost in both boxes. Today we were our own worse enemies, giving away sloppy goals, and missing chances at the other end. We have another opportunity to put it right next week when we travel to Sutton United.

Full Time
Banbury United U16s 2 Droitwich Spa Trojans U16s 4
Goalscorers - Tyra, Lewis
Assists - Ollie E, Pablo
MOTM - Finlay