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Vital Leeds: Oakwood Owls Defeated

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A weakened Owls squad lose their first game in 3 as they go down 8-6 to 3rd place Cockburn in the Soccer City U15 Premiership.

Managers Match Report
The squad played this match minus 3 of their most influential players and in the end inexperience proved their downfall, as they capitulated in 12 minutes of madness, conceding 4 late goals without reply.

Owls conceded 2 early goals to put them on the back foot, then hit back on 7 minutes, after good work by Kinghorn. Captain Rodley netted with a rasping finish, to reduce the early deficit. Cockburn played some excellent football, passing through the Owls’ defence at will and on 10 they again went further ahead, when hitting the net after a fine 4 man move. Owino rattled a post for Owls, and then Kinghorn went one better, in scoring from an acute angle to make it 3-2 Cockburn. Oakwood appeared to be settling into a stride and began to find feet with a number of accurate passes and good team play. Kinghorn (2) and Captain Rodley notched quick fire strikes to push their side ahead at 5-3 Owls. It was here where the Cockburn boys upped their game and showed exactly why they occupy 3rd place in the league, putting serious daylight between the sides in a 12 minute spell of mesmerising team work and outstanding football!

Three simple Cockburn finishes shocked the Owls rearguard and then a penalty award had Cockburn leading 7-5, with only 4 minutes remaining. Oakwood kept to the task heroically, missing a number of clear cut chances, but it was to be Cockburn who scored next, with yet another fantastic example of how to play youth football! Their fluent passing and skills again upset Oakwood, as they scored from distance after a period of great possession play. In the final minutes Owls hit a consolation, with Rodley dribbling through the entire defence to make it 8-6 Cockburn, but in the end the best team on this day rightfully earned the points.

Rod Christopher On The Game
”Todays Owls squad was chosen to look at fringe players. It wasn’t about trying to get a winning result, as we’re out of title contention, mainly due to our 12 point starting deficit.

Obviously we always want to win, but I also feel the need to see how far I can go with some of the fringe players. I rested our first choice goalkeeper, our vice captain defender and our top scoring striker, but still all of the selected lads did me proud under very difficult circumstances at times. Cockburn are very experienced at playing here, so really it was a test us.

Yes we lost 8-6, but that’s still close and perhaps we were over run a bit in the end. We had no subs either and 25 minutes of non stop football is a long time even for 15 year olds! It was a good challenge & great to see the yardstick which we aim to reach in time. With our full squad available I would honestly expect to beat good teams like this. They were good, but not better than our strongest line up! Next season will be very interesting for our lads, because we have learned an awful lot since joining this league & we are now getting used to these new surroundings!”

For more information on the Oakwood Owls, visit www.oakwoodowls.leedslearning.org/

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