by Jeff King (with thanks to Anth Johnson)
Durham County FA Under-18s Saturday League - Saturday 28th September 2024
Billingham Town Under 18s 0 v 3 Chester-le-Street Under 18s
An historic first win in the Durham County FA Under-18s Saturday League and a first ever clean sheet as well. A satisfying and pleasing result for United's fledgling side who are more than holding their own in this tough division.
They are doing so by learning and growing from each game they play gaining valuable experience as they go despite playing often against side with older players in their ranks.
Saturday saw the U18’s away to Billingham Town where they were looking to turn some recent good performances into three points and follow in the footsteps of the senior side that had beaten Billingham's first team 2 - 1 the previous night.
United started on the front foot with plenty of possession in the first ten minutes.
Ethan Bell went close and forced a good save after Jack Barker played him in one on one.
Billingham were denied a great scoring opportunity from point blank range but young keeper Josh Reid made a fine save tipping the ball onto the crossbar and over for a corner.
Moments later at the other end Max Hepworth went close hitting the crossbar from a wide cross.
United deservedly went ahead on 35 minutes after great work wide on the right from Shay Pye saw his low driven cross parried into the path of Brooklyn Moss who calmly slotted the ball into the open net from 6 yards.
Half Time - 0 - 1 to United
Early in the second half United went further ahead with a great team goal.
Hepworth cut the ball back to Connelly who floated a ball into the path of Brooklyn Moss and his good control unselfishly set up Ethan Bell to fire into the top left hand corner from close range.
Chester's back four of Garvey, Price, White and Hepworth were solid and limited the home side to very little opportunities.
The middle four of Carter Bell, Young, Connelly and Barker were now dominating central areas and the youngsters could have easily had two or three more by the midway point of the second half.
Moss went close again after good work from E. Bell but again the keeper denied him one on one with a good save. Pye went close after great technique saw his cleverly guided shot just glance the outside of the post.
The third and final goal was scored from the penalty spot from Pye with ten minutes left who went to the right of the keeper from the spot after being brought down from behind in the box after another good ball into him by Bell.
This was a great team performance overall and a positive clean sheet today for the lads who’ll be pleased to turn their recent hard work into points on the board.
TEAM : 1. Reid 2. Garvey 3. Hepworth 4. Price 5. White 6. Young 7. Barker 8. Connelly 9. E. Bell 10. Pye 11. C. Bell
SCORERS : Moss, E. Bell, Pye (pen)
MAN of the MATCH : Shay Pye - Shay worked hard making runs for 90 mins and kept plugging away to get his goal later in the game after a few earlier chances saw him denied by the home keeper.
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