Under 14s suffer rare league defeat

Forced to travel again due to pitch congestion the Under 14s found themselves on a very muddy pitch in Dover against a physically strong Dover Rangers Colts team. With our goalkeeper unavailable due to suffering a concussion playing rugby, Wilson Proctor and Kobey Love showed great team commitment by playing half each in goal.
The team started brightly and managed to play some good passing football in the opening 10 or so minutes. Completely against the run of play Dover broke forward and their striker was brought down, conceding a penalty which was duly converted. This seemed to throw Whitstable off our stride and for the next 20 minutes Dover controlled the match without threatening our goal until right at the end of that spell when they slotted home a second. Whitstable then sparked into life and a run down the left to the byline by Jacob Couzens forced a foul in the box; Jacob scored the resulting penalty. Shortly afterwards Whitstable had a couple of chances from corners and then hit the inside of the post with a cross from the left - somehow the ball came away from the goal when it could easily have gone into the net.
After half time the pattern of the final five minutes of the first half continued with Whitstable controlling the game - with Hamish Dickson winning the ball in the air on numerous occasions and helping to keep Dover away from the danger area with Alfie Brown, Zac Jenner and Wilson - but unable to take any of the half chances that were created, particularly from more corners. With about eight minutes remaining Dover scored a third from only their second attack of the half. Our defensive positioning for this goal was poor leaving a 1 v 3 situation, leading to Kobey having no chance from a well taken shot but doing well to get a hand on the ball.
There was renewed hope when another foul in the box gave Jacob his second penalty taking the score to 3-2 with four minutes to go. There was another penalty shout after a scramble in the Dover box but the referee waved play on.
The final result was a little harsh on Whitstable who battled away on a poor pitch but the boys never gave up. Looking forward we need to be more vocal - in a positive and constructive way - to get more out of each other and also help teammates on and off the ball. Hopefully there will be the right reaction when we play third placed Dynamo United next weekend.