U13s Derby 4-3 York
York took the long trip to Derby for their last away game of the season. Derby kicked off proceedings, but it was York who took the early initiative when Matthew Dawes put a through ball down the right wing that Archie Colley ran onto. Colley quickly crossed the ball into the box which left the Derby defence stranded and Kaiden Butler with a clear header on goal that he calmly put away. 0-1. The early goal seemed to surprise the large statured Derby outfit and in quick succession Colley and Butler had further shots on goal.
Ellis Cattaneo and Dillon Meehan were working hard in midfield to prevent and initiatives from Derby but eventually they made their first foray into the York box only to find it quickly thwarted by the strong tackling York Captain Tom Algar. Shortly afterwards Derby came again and in what seemed to be a lapse in concentration from York, they skipped through midfield and defence to make it 1-1.
The Derby equaliser didn’t dishearten the away team and Dawes forced a full stretch save from the Derby keeper immediately after kick off. The pressure continued and Cattaneo put through a tricky ball for the Derby keeper to deal with but fell kindly for Butler to finish. 1-2.
The York pressure continued and Meehan saw his shot go narrowly wide within seconds of the restart. Nathan Heaton and George Harrison entered the fray for York. York were playing with confidence and passing superbly from front to back. Will Hotson dealt with a Derby attack with authority and quickly passed to Tom Coy at right back who set Tommy Cahill charging down the right wing to the by-line, sending in a dangerous cross into the box but unfortunately just out of Dawes’ reach.
The midfield of Meehan, Heaton, Harrison and Colley continued to battle hard to the end of the first half to keep the score at 1-2.
The second half saw the debut for York of James Hickey. Derby started the second half brightly and forced a superb reflex save from the York keeper Noah Ellis. Unfortunately for York, Derby were able to capitalise on the subsequent corner and make it 2-2. Derby came again after kicking off and forced another superb save from Ellis that was roundly applauded by the spectators. York were still pushing for another goal and won a corner. Algar got on the end of the cross but shot across goal, Meehan diverted the shot but it narrowly went over the bar. Another York attack saw Butler brought down in the Derby area. The referee awarded York a penalty and Butler converted to make it 2-3.
In quick succession Derby scored 2 to goals make the score 4-3 after they seemed to find success down their left wing. Despite this setback and time now running out for York they continued to press and on a couple of occasions could have found the equaliser. A free kick from Algar was tipped onto the cross bar, Heaton nearly put away his header from a corner, Butler fired a shot on goal that required the Derby keeper to take 2 attempts at collecting and Colley finished the game with a shot on target that the Derby keeper was able to gather.
Final Score 4-3.
Scorers
Butler 3 (1 Pen)
MOTM – Butler
Shots Derby York
On Off On Off
1st: 2 5 5 2
2nd: 2 3 4 6
