U15s York 2 – 6 Newcastle (Champions Cup)

York & District v Newcastle Schools – Champions Cup (game day 2)
7th October – York University

Team: Ben Alder, Charlie Anderson, Luca Long, Oliver Waygood, Harley Waddington, Sam Parris, Dara Sanusi, Harry Waines, Bodhi Justice, Isaac Arif, Jungi Park, Ewan Daly, Finn Davis, Olaf Gorczyczewski

York U15s had their first chance to host a Champions Cup game at home on Saturday against Newcastle Schools and it turned out to be a classic game of 2 halves, with Newcastle taking all 3 points following a superb second half comeback.

After York’s chastening defeat in their first Champions Cup game away to North Tyneside, they were wary of another tough game against a strong team from the North East, but in fact York gave a much better account of themselves in this game and perhaps the final score took some of the gloss of the performance.

Starting strong, York were on the front foot and containing Newcastle well. They were competing well in all areas of the pitch. The back 3 of Luca Long, Oliver Waygood and the excellent Charlie Anderson (recently recovered from a dislocated shoulder) were keeping the ball well away from Ben Alder’s goal. However early in the first half York lost wing back Bodhi Justice to a bad wrist injury. He immediately left the field of play for a trip to A&E. Thankfully only a short time out of action until full recovery.

Forward Ewan Daly was chasing every ball, winning back possession time and time again to give York a continued attacking platform which the midfield of Harley Waddington, Isaac Arif and Dara Sanusi duly obliged of. The first meaningful attack came from Arif who broke from midfield, but pulled his shot wide. Then Olaf Gorczyczewski blasted over the goals from distance, but it was all positive from York. Newcastle were still a threat and their left wing forward was getting plenty of the ball, requiring close attention from Luca Long and Sam Parris. It was through this route that Newcastle broke the deadlock, when a cross-field ball evaded both Long and Parris to the Newcastle winger to slot past Alder.

Parris then turned provider to play a fantastic curved pass into the path of Gorczyczewski who beat the keeper to the ball and fire home a deserved equaliser. Shortly after Daly won possession again on the wing, turned his man and played a lovely pass into Gorczyczewski who lobbed to onrushing keeper to make it 2-1 to York. By now Jungi Park (making his schoolboys debut) and Harry Waines were on in midfield as was Finn Davis at left wing back. At the other end of the pitch Anderson cleared a goalbound effort from Newcastle off the line with his head to keep York in front by half time.

Clearly the Newcastle coach had seen enough and made substitutions that had a significant impact on the game. Instantly Newcastle had more pace, more physicality and more technical footballers on the pitch and began to exert a lot of pressure on York in the 2nd half. It wasn’t long before they had an equaliser from a set piece and then the 3rd goal followed. They clearly had no intention of easing up and Alder was called upon to make some smart saves and Anderson made another goal line clearance. With Gorczyczewski off the field, it was harder to create any attacking opportunities but Daly did break through only to be undone by the offside flag. York’s passing out from the back was being met with a high press and caused turnovers and chances for Newcastle.

It seemed like York had stemmed the tide, but tiredness was creeping in and in the final 10 minutes concentration levels dropped resulting in players not being tracked or mistakes being made which meant Newcastle managed to take the shine off a good performance by taking the final score to 2-6 in their favour.

A disappointing end to what was a good performance from York who acquitted themselves far better in this game than their previous Champions Cup outing. The Champions Cup has certainly shown the team the level of football in the North East and the high standards achievable in Schoolboys football.

Its back on the road next week for York as they visit Rotherham for matchday 3 in the league.

Final Score: York 2 – 6 Newcastle
Scorer(s): Gorczyczewski x 2