Yate Town F.C U18’s 2 AEK Boko U18’s 4 Tuesday 10th September 2024
Yate Town welcomed AEK Boko to the South West Interior Stadium, for this, their first WCFL fixture but despite a solid performance it was the visitors who gained an impressive away win.
Setting up in a 4-5-1 formation, the hosts seized early possession, playing out through the back four into central and wide positions. Jacob Batt increasingly became the team’s outlet as Yate Town started brightly but the visitors compact defence thwarted the Yate Town attacks at this stage.
Having controlled possession early on, Yate Town were then put on the back foot by consecutive defensive errors, conceding twice in 5 minutes midway through the first half.
However, the home side held to their playing philosophy and began to create chances in the opposition third, with passes and runs that broke the defensive line. The opposition keeper was brought into action with efforts from Jacob Batt, Kevin Contreas, Tyler Wood, and a Ben Cook long range effort shaving the crossbar. From a further attack built through Dalton Rose, Nico Baird and James Fortune in the right channel, Tyler Wood just missed out as the ball travelled across goal.
As the half drew to a close, the opposition had sparse opportunity, but took advantage of an overplay outside the Yate Town penalty box to finish well and take a half time lead of 3-0.
The same starting XI took to the field for the second half with an emphasis on moving the ball quicker and off of less touches as the opposition appeared to be tiring. Keeper Zach Gillies continued to play out through Dalton Ross, Ben Cook, Todd Sims and Will Down, with pivot Nico Baird increasingly coming into the game. After controlling the opening period of the second half Yate Town again showed indecision in our defensive third, where a lack of communication saw the opposition steal possession and finish well for an unlikely 4-0 advantage. To their credit the home players continued to work hard with Callum Rogers unfortunate not to get in behind after good forward runs.
As legs tired, replacements, Antony Batt, Joe Steward, Max Davies, Yeets Kipel and Luke Money successively came on from the bench. The injection of energy saw the boys dominate the final twenty-five minutes. A positive passing game saw Yate play through the opposition lines on numerous occasions with Jacob Batt, Antony Batt and Nico Baird going close as the AEK Boko keeper saved well. As the game entered the final quarter, Yate Town were finally rewarded when Max Davies fired well into the net after good approach play. AEK countered by dropping deeper and strengthening their back line, which afforded the hosts further space in which to play.
With 12 minutes left on the clock the lively Max Davies finished well again after good approach play by Yeets Kipel. At this stage the AEK Boko were camped in their own half as their keeper pulled off further stops to deny Jacob Batt and Nico Baird, whilst headers from Anthony Batt and Max Davies just missed the target.
Errors showed that football can be a harsh learning environment at times, even if you have dominated the opposition. But the Yate Town youngster’s enthusiasm to compete throughout, and the number of opportunities created bodes well as they build into the season. Congratulations to AEK Boko on their victory and to Jacob Batt who was named Yate Town Man of the Match.
Yate Town Under 18 team: Zach Gillies, Dalton Ross, Ben Cook, Todd Sims, Will Down, James Fortune, Kevin Contreas, Nico Baird (Capt), Callum Rogers, Jacob Batt, Tyler Wood.
Replacements: Yeets Kipel, Joe Steward, Antony Batt, Max Davies, Luke Money
Attendance: 60