Willand U15’s 8 Wiveliscombe U15’s 0 (Taunton and District League Div 2)
The league campaign began and ended for the Willand U15’s with games against Wiveliscombe, wriites Tony Badcott.
The end result has been 12straight league victories and the title won by a clear 8 points which for these boys in this their first season together has been a magnificent achievement.
With 16 players available to select from for the first time all season it provided for the rare luxury of some experimentation with the starting line-up. Regular goalkeeper Ben Gubb and centre back Haydn Tucker formed the new partnership up front and incredibly it was glovesman Gubb who opened the scoring on the fifteen minute mark with a crisply taken finish to send the large and appreciative Willand crowd wild. It took a while for the second to come perhaps understandably so given the number of positional changes. However, as so often the case this season it came courtesy of a thunderous strike from the edge of the box by Oscar Walsh who again was in parts almost unstoppable. The third came just before the half time whistle when the powerful Josh Herbert muscled his way through the Wiveliscombe defence and tucked it away in the bottom corner to make the half time scoreline 3-0 to Willand.
The second half saw goalkeeper changes with Josh Herbert replacing Sam Ayres who resumed his normal striking duties. The versatility of most of the Willand players to adapt to different positions was exemplified by Aiden Harrison who can play intelligently and adeptly whether asked to play in midfield or in defence. Equally Kai Morgan who despite having scored double figures from his normal winger’s position turned in a mouth-watering Man of the Match performance at right back notably linking up particularly well with Christian Whales. His faultless performance coupled with the rock solid Oli Billings, Haydn Tucker, Harry Taylor and Matt Futcher ensured there was never any likelihood of a goal being conceded. Leading scorer Sam Ayres started the second half ball rolling with an accomplished finish after ten minutes of the second period before two quick fire goals from Oscar Walsh began to put the gloss on a better second half performance. The middle of the park was largely controlled by the ever reliable Jacob Turner, Captain Tom Jeacock and the silky skills of Chaz Dodd and Garreth Blackmore. Returning from injury Ryan Borkowski put in a great shift down the left side of the pitch. Two late goals for the popular Tom Jeacock and Aiden Harrison ensured a final scoreline of 8-0 to Willand.
The last action of the season will now be the Cup Final in around a month’s time when the boys cross swords with Division One leaders Wembden in an eagerly awaited Cup Final.
Goals were shared out on the day between, Walsh 3, Gubb 1, Herbert 1, Ayres 1, Jeacock 1, and Harrison 1.
The Willand Line up: Ben Gubb, Kai Morgan, Chaz Dodd, Harry Taylor, Tom Jeacock (Capt), Hayden Tucker, Gareth Blackmore, Aiden Harrison, Christian Whales, Oscar Walsh and Sam Ayres. Subs: Matt Futcher, Oli Billings, Josh Herbert, Jacob Turner and Ryan Borkowski.
