Norwich Academy 1 - 2 PSA
22/09/04
Norwich City 1-2 Premier Soccer Academy
. Match report.
By the time we reached Norwich the squad had firmly settled into their new surroundings in Ipswich having by now had some training sessions at Ipswich Town FC where as always we have been made to feel as if we are part of the family.
Wycombe Wanderers are going through some changes with their academy and the new Academy director Colin Barnes is doing a great job at the club, I believe that Wanderers will have a far stronger academy by this time next season. As I said in the Wycombe match report the 7-0 score line flattered us a bit Wanderers where not a bad
little side, however Norwich City are a Premier League Academy and as I told the players before the game this was going to be a real test.
Starting Line up;
JAKE
BEN
TAYLOR
DANIEL JOHNNY
AARON JAMIE
MATT TOBIN
GLEN
KRIS
Bench; Greg, Clayton, Zack
I decided to change our formation for this match for two reasons. A, to allow Tobin and Aaron to play out wide from the start and B, defensively with 3 center backs and Ben sweeping I felt we would be harder to break down.
As the players warmed up, the groundsman decided to switch the match onto field one which is reserved for under 19s and first team only. If the Norwich lads where exited then you can only imagine how our lads felt about this, the Norwich boys have never played on this field before which resembled a lush bowling green an absolutely
perfect playing surface. The day before, Zack spent some time with the Ipswich Town Physio. He told him that his ankle is still not strong enough to play on and as we where to find as the tour went on it was clear that Zack would need to keep working on strengthening his ankle.
What a dream start. 5 minute on the clock and Norwich loose the ball in the center of the park to Matt, Tobin pulls out wide and pushes on the last man, Tobin gets a ball out wide, in space from Matt and finds himself in a one on one situation with the keeper and calmly slots it home 1-0 to PSA. As always the bench players go onto
the field within 8-10 minutes and the rotation of positions begins. Ben, Taylor and Johnny stayed in the same positions all game and only the middle center back position was changed, I couldn’t take the chance of disrupting our back four as Norwich where causing us all kinds of problems. I am sorry but I can’t remember the build up to the second goal only that Tobin scored again, 2-0 up at half time. There is no doubt
about it, we played some very good football in the first half and I can honestly say I have never seen this group of players play so well. Our passing was sharp and accurate, our movement off the ball was fantastic and we created some good opportunities with Aaron, Kris and Clayton all going close to adding to the score line. Jake was cool and alert and whenever possible played out from the back. The back four where solid and
stood firm. Although Ben was sweeping I told him to get his defenders high up the field as quick as possible and for him, not to play to deep and as always Ben followed instructions.
We soon found out that this was going to be a game of 2 halves. Norwich came out for the second half all guns blazing, everything about them was taken up a notch or should I say 3 notches. Jake was called into action more in the second half but was not in any kind of mood to allow Norwich to get the better of him. Eventually somehow
Norwich worked an opening and scored, which did get them back into the game. Within minutes Tobin crosses the ball into the box and Kris rises above everyone and fire a blistering header towards the top corner only to see the Norwich keeper make an unbelievable save..
Towards the end of the game Norwich hit the bar with a rocket of a shot. (Jake will probably say he had it covered) to be honest we where pined back into our own half for the last 8 minutes while Norwich kept the ball well but failed to penetrate. The lads where glad to hear the final whistle.
All in all we kept our shape and played some very good football. A draw would have been a fair result. Norwich City have a great academy and reputation and although the tours are not about winning, more about taking part, it is great to beat any Professional academy. This is the first time we have beaten a Premier League Academy, the
2-2 draw with Chelsea last year was the closest we had come before.
An interesting thing happened in the dressing room after the match, several players looked down and despondent. After talking to them for about 5 minutes it was evident that some of them felt disappointed with their own performances and the fact that we where under considerable pressure in the later stages of the game. I sensed the same thing from the players last season at Chelsea, when we let a 2-0 lead slip and came away with a 2-2 draw. Maybe it is my faults for putting too much belief into the players, making them think they are indestructible. On reflection I have come to the conclusion that once they have settled in and have a couple of training sessions and a match or two under their belt, they feel at home. Now that is all well and good however the fact is they could not be any further from home and these Academy sides are top quality. It is good to be tough on yourself but this is going to far!
The singing on the bus on the way back to the Ipswich hotel was fantastic and showed that they had taken in what I had said in the dressing room. For 1 hour the players never stopped singing. I reminded them what English Football fans sing to opposing fans that stop singing when they are loosing. (You only sing when you’re winning) I told them the singing was
great but if we loose they have got to keep up the singing. As you can imagine this was met with some horrified looks…THEN THE SINGING STARTED AGAIN!
Man of the match….Jake
Muzza.