Garforth Villa U-12s 2
Real Cliffe U-12s 0

Date: Saturday, April 19th

Competition: Selby League. Division: Under 12s Blue

The late arrival of Real Cliffe resulted in a delayed kick off which seemed to affect Villa's concentration so the first ten minutes started as a scrappy affair on a bumpy pitch although most of the play was in Real Cliffe's half.

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In the 15th minute against the run of play Real had an attack on the Villa goal but it was snuffed out by Villa's keeper Rob Hazelgrave who commanded his area well.

The game remained in the balance with end to end stuff, both defences curtailing any attacks with particularly strong tackling from Villa's full backs Jordan Illiffe and Liam Cairns.

In the 26th minute the game changed when a long free kick from defender Bradley Hoyle went over the top of Real's defence, Lewis Edwards closed down the opposition's keeper and the ball squirted to Ronan Collar-Booth who placed the ball into the back of the net to give Villa the lead. That was the wake up call Villa needed as the next few minutes saw two Villa corners, the best chance falling to Harrison Burns whose header was collected by Real's keeper.

The second half saw a frantic start by Villa who were now chomping at the bit against bottom placed Real Cliffe. In the 31st minute slick passing through the midfield and a cross met by Ellis Linton just went wide of the upright.

In the 36th minute a good sequence of tackles by Liam Cairns and a pass down the line to Kieran Binns who then flicked on to Lewis Edwards whose shot hit he side netting.

Villa were now controlling the game and a number of good phases of play resulted in further near misses by Villa, but with swift counter attacks from Real, Villa's defence had to be on the ball with timely tackles from last man central defender Alex Aveyard. The game was still in the balance.

Half way through the second half a midfield challenge from Dan Hardwick spilled to fellow midfielder Joe Keenan whose through ball to Ronan ended with a 20 yard looping shot just over the bar.

Villa needed to find the net again to kill off the game as further efforts from Sam Rayner and Kieran came to no avail.

Finally in the last minute of the game a through ball on the left from Josh Hill arrived midway between Ronan and the Real keeper, Ronan just beating the keeper to it rounding him to slot in his and Villa's second goal.

Villa almost made it three with seconds remaining when a pin point corner was met by Alex Aveyard but his header flashed inches past the post.

When the final whistle blew it not only signified match weary legs, but also a fairly successful season which Villa had turned around since the Christmas break to finish in fourth position if next weeks results went Villa's way.

Team: Rob Hazelgrave, Liam Cairns, Bradley Hoyle, Alex Aveyard, Jordan Illiffe, Josh Hill, Lewis Edwards, Kieran Binns, Joe Keenan, Ellis Linton, Sam Rayner, Dan Hardwick, Harrison Burns, Ronan Collar-Booth.