Under 14s out of the County Cup

The Under 14s' first ever foray into the County Cup was ended this afternoon in the second round by a strong Tunbridge Wells Youth team. The effort made by all the players - with the squad down to just 12 because of unavailability and illness on the day - was very good but, ultimately not quite enough.
Without our goalkeeper, Jacob and Kobey put the team first and played half each in goal. After a respectfully reserved two-minute silence, the first half started badly for the team with two goals conceded in the opening six minutes, the second an unfortunate own goal from an attempted clearance. For the rest of the half the team played a passing game at every opportunity and matched Tunbridge Wells in all other aspects.
The team needed to start the second half well but, unfortunately, Wells had the ball in the net within a minute of the restart. A fourth followed before 10 minutes had gone by. Eventually Whitstable got the goal their efforts deserved. Jacob Couzens, out of goal, had moved up from his wing back position and forced a hurried clearance from the opposition goalkeeper. The ball went high into the air and caught the wind. The ball bounced high and span backwards over the centre half where Jacob pounced to beat the goalkeeper and fire into the bottom right corner. Unfortunately Whitstable then conceded two goals within three minutes of scoring. Tunbridge' seventh goal was a fantastic left footed strike from the corner of the box into the top left corner of Whitstable's goal.
The final act of the game was for Hamish Dickson to drive forward from the back, exchange passes with Jacob Couzens, and then cross for Stanley Griffiths to slot home.
On the day the home team were fitter and showed better quality for longer periods but Whitstable worked hard throughout and played the game in the right way. They should be proud of their performance today.