We always new today was going to be a tough game, Oakenagates haven’t got a great record against Bridgnorth in this age group and again today Bridgnorth proved a hard team to beat.

Once the boys settled in the first half they played some good football, but it never quite came together and flowed like it had done in other games. It was hard going, Trey had his work cut out not only defending but holding off one of the opposing teams better players. Kieron cleared well from the back, almost lobbing the keeper on one occasion with a spectacular clearance up field. Matt held his own, he had a difficult game but did the best he could and put in a solid performance as usual. Owen again cleared the ball well and with the defenders on form it prevented little if any real threat from Bridgnorth.

The ball was won and lost in midfield. Some fine throw ins from Jordan, helped us keep possession, but like with most weeks we won several corners which Cam superbly put into the box, but no one was able to convert them into goals, which was a shame, because, the corners were our main source of threat. The ball fell a lot to Ryan today, he tried to push the balls through to the strikers, but was tackled on a number of occasions and just didn’t have the luck with him today. Amir, like last week was strong and passed the ball well, picking up loose balls and keeping possession.

Ben M and Tommy came on towards the end of the first half, Ben got amongst the action in the box and made his presence felt whilst Tommy made some runs down the left and passed the ball well.

The goal came from Cam, an initial effort from Bailey, which Cam converted. Bailey and Connor, were quick to beat the offside rule today and on another day their chances would have gone in. They both worked hard, did a lot of running and were unfortunate not to score.

The second half saw a fine penalty save from Layton, but unfortunately the celebrations were short lived as in the dying minutes Bridgnorth got their equaliser, they were pushing for it the whole of the second half, they put Oakengates under a lot of pressure, after having a goal disallowed, they didn’t give up their determination and carved out a draw.

Ben B, Luke and Beckhem, were second half substitutes. They played much like the players they were replacing, fought hard for the balls and passed when they could. Its hard when there are so many subs in a game to give everyone time on the field, when it’s a tight game like today, you don’t want to change the setup too much but they did well and on the whole all the boys played well, they can’t expect to always have great games and for everything to always come together, it was hard today and it shows how far the team have come, when they all leave disappointed with a draw, this time last year they would have all been happy with a draw!!