Harry Shaw Cup First Round: Wyken Croft Vs Manor Park

The start of the new football season has begun, after a successful last season which resulted in the team winning the Ben Whelan Cup we say goodbye and good luck to the old year 6 players and welcome the new crop of players into the team. We also say goodbye to Mr.Lewis who left Wyken Croft at the end of the last academic year and welcome Mr.Vernon to the coaching staff.

Our first competitive game fell on Thursday 17th October away in the Harry Shaw Cup to Manor Park Primary School. After a warm up led by Corey who remains in the team from last season and captain for the game, Mr. Brown and Mr. Vernon brought the players over to the touchline for a pre-game briefing. The players went out onto the pitch setting up in a 3-2-1 formation. The game kicked off and after a scrappy first 5 minutes the game started to calm down with Wyken playing some nice attacking football. Wyken continued to keep hold off possession but struggled to create chances with some good defending from the Manor Park players. Manor Park were dangerous on the counter attack and some direct balls from Manor Parks defenders over the top of Wykens defense led to some great chances for Manor Park and if not for Mason making some great saves in goal most notably an incredible double save we could of found ourselves falling behind. Coming towards the end of the first half Wyken were attacking and when the ball found its way into the Manor Park box the ball was met by Dexter who put the ball into the back of the Manor Park net to make the game 1-0 to Wyken. The half came to a close and the players made their way over to the touchline for a quick water break and team talk from Mr. Brown and Mr. Vernon.

A couple of changes to the line-up at half time and the players made their way back onto the pitch. A slow start to the second half from Wyken meant that Manor Park took control of the game, a corner ball was wiped in by the Manor Park player and landed perfectly on the head of one of his teammates who seen the ball fly into the Wyken Croft goal to make the game 1-1. The second half continued evenly with some good battling by both teams and some great saves by both goalkeepers. Wyken came close from a corner which seen Dexter head the ball onto the crossbar before being caught by the Manor Park goalkeeper on the rebound. The game was coming to the end and with the score still at 1-1 it looked as though we were heading towards extra time until a ball was floated into the Manor Park box and after a goal mouth scramble the ball fell to Dexter who smashed the ball into the goal to make it 2-1 to Wyken. From the Manor Park kick off Zach chased the ball down and intercepted a pass from the Manor Park defender and found himself one on one with the goalkeeper, Zach calmly placed the ball into the bottom left corner which made the game finish 3-1 to Wyken Croft. After a tough game with both teams showing excellent resilience the teams met in the middle to shake hands. The Wyken players walked over to the touchline for a post-match debrief from Mr. Brown and Mr. Vernon who both were immensely proud of the team for their hard work and the nice football they played. The player of the match for the game for Wyken who was also voted player of the match by the Manor Park players was Mason who made some excellent saves to keep Wyken in the game. We all look forward to seeing who we play in the second round of the Harry Shaw Cup.

Well Done Boys!!!