U14 MELLOR v CHEADLE 21-11-15
Dominic Macdonald
CHEADLE 11 MELLOR 16
In its way this was a more disappointing result than last week’s home defeat to Stockport/Norbury. Mellor laboured to victory and showed flashes of skill throughout but generally the passing was sloppy and willingness to release the ball quickly was still a big problem. However, what was really exposed today was Mellor’s defence. The statistics speak for themselves. Over the past two games Mellor have scored 27 and let in 26 goals, so a big finger has to be pointed at the woeful defending on display.
Mellor took the lead early and looked to have an early stranglehold on the game as they racked up the goals. Joe Hussey had been missing last week and his reappearance in the team gave it more balance and width. It looked like it was going to be another routine win. However, the comfortable scoreline made Mellor complacent and the attack started falling into the bad habits of last week. Too many glory runs led to nothing and too many goal attempts were made from silly positions.
At halftime the score was still a comfortable looking 5-13 to Mellor. However, Cheadle were much better than the scoreline suggested and they were well marshalled. They started to pull their game together, playing simply and effectively as a team. They also realised how porous the Mellor defence was. The third quarter exposed how poorly Mellor can function as a team. Will had possibly his worst game in goal for Mellor but he wasn’t helped by a defence who were simply not concentrating. Time and again they let Cheadle slip through for one on one’s with the keeper. Simple passes out were not made, tackles were weak and ineffectual and marking was very poor. The narrow pitch made accurate distribution from defence a priority but the defence just seemed to want to get the ball away no matter what. Nobody made themselves available for short passes out from goal, ground balls were swatted at rather than gathered up and slowness of thought and feet meant that Cheadle started racking up the goals. By the end of the 3rd quarter they had pulled back to 8-15
The 4th quarter was a small improvement but Cheadle had the better of the play and scored another three goals to Mellor’s one. It ended 16-9 with Drew Bickerton making a superb take and then scoring on the turn. The warning signs were there again for Mellor U14’s. They have enough talent to be able to hold possession and bore teams to death if necessary so they shouldn’t be shipping this number of goals. In the past it would have taken a whole season to get 26 goals past Mellor. This season is different, Mellor’s defence is very vulnerable, too many of the better players don’t play as a team which the other clubs in the league are starting to realise – and they’re getting ready to pounce.