Woodford Youth Football Club                                       In  Association With Manford Way FC

The boys knew they were in for a physical game today and true to their expectations, physical it was! All the boys put in an outstanding strong performance and were unlucky not to be a few goals up in the first half. A number of potential penalty decisions for Woodford were ignored, but the second half started with the boys keeping up the high tempo of continued pressure. Sure enough they were rewarded with a fine ball from Rawlins to Balogun who calmly tucked the ball in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. With 3 mins left, a momentary lapse in concentration allowed Euro Dagenham to lay on a cross which resulted in a headed goal to bring the score even at 1-1. Despite constant pressure in the remaining minutes Euro Dag held out for a final score of 1-1. A good all round solid display from the boys that should really have seen a comfortable win.

LTD started the game well playing a good passing game which saw them rewarded with an early goal. That was then a wake up call for our boys which saw us go up a gear on an all out attack. Balogun found himself through on a number of occassions but luck was not on his side as time & again his lobs & shots went just wide. The first half finished 1-0 to LTD but should have been 4-1 to us. The 2nd half started as we finished, full flowing attacking football which paid off. Balogun was to benefit this time for his hard work as good work from defence fed the ball to midfield who in turn played the ball upfield, Balogun pounced just before the LTD player to fire the ball into the net for a well deserved 1-1. The relentless attack continued which saw goal no.2 for Balogun. Fine work again from defence to midfield saw good feet & judgement from Abscott  release Hearne who in turn had good control & fed Balogun to slot the ball in the back of the net for 2-1. Hill then went on a run from right back carving through the LTD team single handedly & then fire the ball into the roof of the LTD net to make it 3-1.  Final score 3-1.

A good start from the boys saw them take a well deserved early lead with goals from Tweneboah-Koduah & McDowell. Complacency however allowed the Belmont team to get straight back in the game And the whistle for half time saw the score at 2-2. The second half started with our boys fired up & took the game straight to belmont. A fine captains performance by Baker-Merry at left back saw him use his pace on the overlap to terrorise the Belmont defence. That was complimented on the other wing with Hill doing exactly the same at right back. Maghouz & Tweneboah-Koduah continued to cause Belmont problems in midfield & Maghouz determination paid off when he broke on the right & cut in to beat 2 Belmont players then shot into the roof of the net to make it 3-2. 2 mins later & Hill went on a run on the overlap down the right wing beating 2 players to deliver a pinpoint cross for McDowell to rise above the Belmont defence to head the ball into the roof of the net to make it 4-2. Some fine quick thinking & hands & feet from Ige the keeper throughout the game kept Belmont getting further into the match. Final score 4-2. 

A good start from the boys saw them pepper the Belmont goal with shots going just wide but it wasn't to be much longer before the first goal went in for the boys. Once that happened the the boys momentum increased as did the pace of their game. They proved too much to handle for a spirited Belmont team with Maghouz fittingly netting a well deserved hat-trick, McDowell netting a brace and Hearne also getting on the score sheet. Tireless running from Tweneboah- Kaduah  throughout the game also. Belmont managed to pull one back.  Final score 6-1 to Utd.

A fast start was what was ordered and a fast start was delivered when Tweneboah- Kaduah broke through the Flyers defence to fire us into the lead. A contentious penalty was justly saved by Ige in between the sticks. More was to come from the boys with Balogun and Hearne both scoring and McDowell grabbing a brace. Flyers scoring a single goal also. Top performances put in by Rawlins in midfield and Kaleem in defence and Balogun in attack. Balogun terrorised the Flyers defence so much that after his goal it lead to a comment  one the Romford spectators to his player of  'why is he still standing!'. Not what you expect to hear from a parent or in kids football!  Final score 5-1 to Utd.

This was to be a repeat performance in terms of lady luck and results as per the previous game v Ryan.  The boys controlled the game from start to finish but just could not find the back of the net.  Chance after chance went begging but the shooting boots were just not on today.  More of the same came in the second half and then a misunderstanding between Hill and Kaleem in our defence resulted in neither going for the ball only for the Town's striker to latch onto it and place it in the bottom of our net. The pressure continued from our boys but once again it wasn't to be.  Final score 1-0 to Town.

The boys started well putting Ryan on the backfoot from the 1st whistle. Good movement and passing from the boys saw Balogun put through on the  left wing, he beat his marker with his pace and cut inside the penalty area where he was met by the advancing Ryan keeper. A clever chip from Balogun saw him lift the ball over the keeper towards the Ryan goal and look destined to drop into the open goal only for the ball to hit the top of the crossbar and then scrambled away by the Ryan defence.  Still we kept going at the Ryan defence and again  chances were created  by fine movement and link up play from the boys. Balogun was put through 4 more times but it wasn't to be his day with shots going just wide and hitting the post. Ryan had the rub of the green and three breaks down the left wing saw three quick goals.  Final score 3-0 to Ryan.

A spirited Senrab side gave the boys an early scare as they broke through the defence causing Ige to spring into action with a string of fine saves. This was capped off with an excellent penalty save from Ige also.  That was to be the wake up call the boys needed and straight away they flew into action with fine movement of the ball from defence to midfield to attack and Balogun punishing the Senrab defence to make it 1-0 to Utd.  Once Balogun was charged up and ready to go there was no stopping him and once again he bagged 4 more. Maghouz and Hearne were not to be forgotten and popped up to grab a goal apiece to make the final score 7-0 to Utd. 

The boys went on an all out attack against a plucky Harold Hill team that tried to put up a resistance.  It wasn't to be for long though before Balogun's pace proved to be too much for the Harold Hill defence, once he had scored his first, four more were to come from him. Tweneboah-Kaduah netted a brace and Hearne also joined them on the score sheet before Harold Hill managed to pull one back.  Final score 8-1 to Utd. 

Romford took centre to start the match and straight away we had them on the back foot. A dogged performance by the 3 midfield marshalls, Maghouz, Rawlins & Tweneboah-Kaduah ensured the Romford attacks were quickly broken down & our attack was started. When Romford did manage to get the ball past our midfield the superb defence of Hill, Kaleem & Baker-Merry were there to ensure hardly anything got past & if they did the ever alert cat between the sticks Ige was there to cancel them out & start our attack. Numerous chances went missing for us in front of goal with good overlap runs from Hill failing  to be converted when the ball was laid infront of goal. Shots from Rawlins, Maghouz,Tweneboah-Kaduah, Balogun & Mcdowell all went close but then a long ball from Ige over the top of the Romford defence saw Balogun sprint away to calmly tuck the ball under the advancing keeper to give us the lead. The second half saw more of the same from our boys but no more goals. Final score 1-0.

Euro Dagenham kicked off match playing a physical game and went straight into attack. What seemed like a harmless waste of a shot by one of their players turned out to be a disaster for us as just when our keeper bent down to collect the ball it took a bobble and went straight through his hands.  Another harmless looking attack by Euro brought them a needless corner. The resulting ball in the box saw an unmarked Euro player head into the goal for 2-0. Endless work by Balogun and Tweneboah-Kaduah  and link up play with Baker-Merry saw repeated attacks in the Euro goalmouth area but we could not convert into goals. 2nd half saw us continue with all out attacks. Euro caught us again however as they ventured into our pen area and a cleared ball fell straight onto a Euro players foot to hit into the net for 3-0. We came back straight away with a fine link up between Tweneboah-Kaduah and Balogun resulting in us pulling 1 back for 3-1. Very physical game with 3 of our boys battered and bruised.

In a scene reminiscent from a horror film, Sunday saw the boys and parents walking through a heavily fogged over Wanstead playing fields trying to find each other, the opposition, the pitch and the ref! Eventually after half an hour and a few phone calls, we had all married up and the boys were ready and raring to go on the pitch. The ref blew for the start of the game and we were off!  Constant attacking and link up play from the midfield of Rawlins, Maghouz and Tweneboah-Kaduah with the strike force of Balogun and Mcdowell saw an onslaught on the Senrab goal but the ball would not go in for us. Then against the run of play Senrab broke and in one of their rare attacks on our goal their striker rounded our advancing keeper Ige to slip the ball in the back of the net to make it 1-0. More onslaught was brought by our boys on the Senrab goal but still we couldn't score. Then again Senrab found themselves in our half and their striker was put through once more, Ige raced off his line to beat the striker to the ball but the striker just nipped infront of his advancing foot which in turn clipped the Senrab strikers foot and down he went and the referee blew for a penalty. Up stepped the Senrab striker to hit the ball to Ige's left  and the Senrab supporters started to cheer the minute the ball left his boot but Ige had better ideas and pulled off an outstanding save, that was to be the wake up call the boys needed. Moments later we were on the attack once more and the hard grafting by Tweneboah- Kaduah finally paid off when the ball came over in the Senrab box and he was there to bury it in the Senrab goal for 1-1 at half time. The second half started and the boys carried on where they left off. Fine link up play once more with midfield and attack saw Tweneboah-Kaduah make it 2-1 and then wrapped up a fine performance to see him get a third for his hat-trick. Mcdowell was not be left out and also completed a hat-trick with one goal being a superb delicate chip over the keeper. The ever chasing Balogun also got his rewards with two fine goals and Hearne wrapped it up to make it 9-1. Senrab then pulled another goal back to make final score 9-2.  Another solid performance was put in by Hill, Baker- Merry and Kaleem in particular.   Baker- Merry being very unfortunate not to get on the score sheet following a fine link up run and shot destined for goal but somehow saved by the Senrab keeper.

First half started slow with strikes on the Senrab goal flying over. Things  soon changed as we went 1-0 up with a great strike from McDowell. He followed that up with his 2nd & Hearne made it 3-0. Senrab pulled 1 back & immediately from centre Rawlins floated a ball over the Senrab defence for McDowell to lob the keeper to complete his hatrick at 4-1. 2nd half saw an all out attack with Balogun & Tweneboah-Kaduah terrorising the Senrab defence. A further goal from McDowell & 2 from Tweneboah-Kaduah then followed. A piledriver from Rawlins just inside the senrab half  cannoned of the crossbar & finally a ball was played across to Balogun who swivelled to his right to turn 2 defenders & curl the ball into the top corner to complete his hatrick. Senrab pulled 1 more back. Final score 10-2.

Played with no subs in a game we had to win. Colebrook took centre to start the match and we like a pack of hungry wolves. We continued to close down and apply pressure which lead to our 1st goal. Good link up play from Balogun, McDowell & Rawlins ended with Rawlins drilling the ball home for what was to be the start of an avalanche on Colebrook. Balogun3, McDowell, Maghouz & Rawlins made it 7-0 at half time but there was a lot more to come. Rawlins completed his hatrick to make it 8 then McDowell scored 5 more, Balogun scored 3 more, Maghouz added another, Hill got 1, Baker-Merry another & Hearne finished the rout with a fine strike from the left wing. 20-0.

The boys played with only 9 players & no subs but it was an all out attack from the 1st whistle which saw us go close to scoring on a no. of occassions. When Colebrook did manage to get into our half our back line of Hill, Kaleem & Baker-Merry mopped up well & away we came again. The last mins of 1st half saw a good break from our boys resulting in the ball being floated into the penalty area to Hearne, Hearne jumped to bring the ball down onto his chest but was met with a pair of studs in his chest by a miss timed tackle from Colebrook's defender. Hearne fell to the floor , everyone cried penalty & the ref blew his whistle.....FOR HALF TIME!. Second half started as the 1st with an all out atrack from the boys, but still we couldn't score despite the pressure. Then with 2 mins to go as a result of a repeat of corners from Rawlins  the ball fell to Hill who beat his man & drilled his shot into the goal!. 1-0 UTD

Good 1st 5-10 mins but then took foot off the gas which allowed Ryan FC  to get a grip of the game. Ryan made more use of the new bigger size pitches and passed the ball around well. When we did use our pace we were unable to get that cutting edge in front of goal to thoroughly test their keeper. When we did test him he produced some good saves and a scorcher from Baker-Merry saw their keeper make a finger tip save onto the bar. The resulting corner saw Rawlins and Tweneboah-Kaduah play a quick 1-2 and Rawlins' drooping shot beat the keeper but hit the foot of the post. Ige also pulled out some fine saves for us with 1 shot in particular looked to have him well beaten only for him to pull off a fine save onto the cross bar.