Tonbridge Invicta Under 16's v Hoeselt KSK

TOUGH ASK

HOESELT KSK 4 TONBRIDGE INVICTA 2

22.04.03

To ask a group of players to climb on a coach at 6.00 am, travel for something like 9 hours and then take the pitch at 6.00 pm in the evening is certainly a tough ask and in the end was probably the main reason why we lost this game. This was the first match of our tour and we travelled back into Belgium from Valkenburg in Holland to play the match.

We started brightly enough, dominating the first 20 minutes or so with some good passing, and we scored with only 15 minutes on the clock. A Dan Howse cross from the left was expertly headed past the Belgian keeper by Man Of The Match Luke Saunders.

Gradually Hoeselt came into the game more and exerted some pressure, but we managed to hold on to our lead until half time. Then came a terrible, sloppy ten minutes when we conceded 3 goals, giving ourselves a mountain to climb. These were a result of poor individual errors and a collective loss of concentration!

With their confidence now high the Belgians continued to have the upper hand for 20 minutes of the second period and added a fourth. But we were never out of the game and slowly but surely we clawed ourselves back into the match scoring through Daniel Powell. A great threaded pass from Jamie Hayes released him and the striker drew the keeper and coolly slotted the ball home. 4-2.

We had the better of the last 15 minutes of the match but could not find the finishing touch to a number of good moves. As the final whistle went our tiredness was evident and although we were frustrated circumstances had worked against us.

Our inability to keep a clean sheet once again undermined our efforts, but we had given a lot as a squad. We retired to our hotel to reflect on an exhausting day and regroup for our next game the following day.