21st October 2007
Outclassed but plenty to learn from seven goal defeat
This game today was a learning curve for everyone involved in my Under-12 set-up, we were beaten by a top side who we simply could not compete against. They had four players who were head and shoulders above everyone and already on contract with the Football League and we can have no complaints with their quality. The game however was spoilt by the referee who was only aged 14 and this was his first game in charge. He allowed three offside goals which were laughable (I mean 15-20 yards offside not just 5) and our Welfare Officer Eddie Phillips had to discuss this their people to change things it was that poor. In the first period we were three goals down after ten minutes, two were clearly offside, but they played some great football in fairness to them. During the break I had to give a team talk to keep my players heads up and to battle. After the second period we were five down, again we battled hard but lost three players through injury and Nathan Carter had to take over as goalkeeper. A great moment then occurred when an Academy assistant referee arrived and ran the line. Wow! For the next 15 minutes every ball played forward by Oxford was offside and they became very frustrated which worked in our favour. For the last ten minutes we battled hard and came close to scoring but it was a game we couldn’t have won with 14 players. We played a team that were a level above us and credit to them. I am gutted as a coach as I do not like losing at anything and I have instilled that into my players but reality kicked in today. What was great however was at the final whistle as our boys went to the centre circle after shaking hands and sang our famous Port Talbot Town song. Well done lads. Man of the match today was Calum Beynon.
David Davies
Port Talbot Town Under-12‘s Academy Coach