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City Disability Win National Finals
St Albans City Youth Disability
Football Club returned home triumphant from the Football Association’s
Ability Counts National Finals winning the trophy in the Championship
category. The 7-a-side tournament was held at the David Beckham Academy
in Greenwich, London, drawing teams from around the country with City
representing the South East region having won a qualifying tournament at
the beginning of July.
City were drawn in a group with CP
Sheffield, Everton DFC and Chelsea and got off to a slow start losing
4-0 to Sheffield after a poor performance all round. City’s attacking
style cost them as Sheffield took advantage of gaps in City’s midfield
and defence with a series of well worked goals. The second game was
against Everton and City found their form. An early goal from Pete
Bishop following a one-two with Anthony Roche settled the nerves
although Everton were able to equalise from a corner. City were soon
back in front with Rob Drew finishing from close range after Roche’s
free kick was blocked, a third followed with Kieron O’Kane running onto
Roche’s defence splitting pass and finishing coolly. The second half
continued in the same vein with Roche finishing from an O’Kane pass and
Drew scoring a fine solo effort to seal a 5-1 win. City entered the
final group game against Chelsea knowing that a win would guarantee a
place in the semi finals. City dominated the game and would have won by
a wide margin but for the Chelsea goalkeeper who made a string of fine
saves. In the end City had to settle for a 1-0 win with Roche crashing
home following good build up play by Drew.
The semi-finals pitted City against
a strong Phoenix DFC side from Herefordshire. City scored early after
another fine goal from Drew who burst past two defenders before shooting
low into the far corner with his left foot. Phoenix dominated possession
but were repeatedly frustrated by the efforts of the City team who
worked hard to deny their opponents space, with Phoenix resorting to
shots from distance as City’s defence led by Matt Caller and David Impey
held firm. City nearly scored a second with a smart counter attack, but
Toby Smith was denied by the Phoenix goalkeeper. As the half progressed
City’s defending became more desperate and Phoenix finally equalised
with a deflected effort which left keeper Hayden Fryer with no chance.
Extra time produced no further goals and the match finished 1-1 leaving
the place in the final to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. City scored
their first three penalties with confident strikes from Roche, Drew and
Smith but Phoenix also scored their first three to take the shoot-out to
sudden death. Impey fired home for City before Fryer saved from
Phoenix’s captain to send City into the final.
The final saw City playing the CP
Sheffield side that had beaten them so comfortably earlier in the day.
City maintained the tactics which had served them so well against
Phoenix and set about denying Sheffield any time and space, whilst
looking to attack on the counter. Roche came close to opening the
scoring with a left foot volley from a tight angle which just went over
the bar, before Drew scored with a long range effort which took the
Sheffield keeper by surprise. City protected their lead with heroic
commitment and energy, repeatedly blocking Sheffield efforts and making
tackle after tackle. The pattern continued for the much of the rest of
the game, with Sheffield failing to create any clear cut chances. Late
in the game, on a rare attack forward, City won a corner. With one eye
on protecting their lead City only sent Roche forward, whilst Sheffield
defended with all seven of their players. Smith delivered a perfect
corner for Roche to head goal wards and after the initial effort was
saved by the goalkeeper Roche reacted first to fire home the loose ball
to seal a 2-0 win for City.
Disabled Section contacts
Club Secretary
Ian Woods
01727 857458
Disability Development Officer Daniel Rogers
01727 762843
Or Email us at
info@cityyouthfc.com
Related Links
Dan Rogers
Profile
Squad
Interviews - Gary Darling
Squad
Interviews - Kieron O'Kane
Squad
Interviews - Paul Spink
Hertfordshire
Disability Football Festival 2008
Hertfordshire Disability Football Festival 2007
Disability Team Newsletter Issue 1 - Jan 2007
Disability Squad Handbook Season 2007/08
Download the City Youth Disability Section Leaflet (In
PDF Format)
FA
Soccerbility Brochure (PDF Format)
FA
Disability Strategy (PDF Format) |
