Josh Briggs’ match of the week Under-10 Castletown Cubs 3Langwathby 4

Published at 11:22, Wednesday, 02 December 2009

A young Castletown Cubs side entertained Langwathby at Castletown Rec on Sunday morning in arctic temperatures.

The Cubs team involved a lot of new faces, with the rotation policy being employed, whereas Langwathby's line-up saw big names such as Jake Burrows and Benjamin Walls.

After a month out of reporting due to the more than terrible weather of late, it was a delight to be back; and what a game to get the reporting back on track.

Early on, the emphasis from both sides was attack, turning the game into an end-to-end extravaganza. Man-of-the-moment Jake Burrows scored the opener for Langwathby with a tap in from close range, further showing off his predatory instincts.

Considering the Cubs were at least a year younger than the Langwathby side, they performed miracles in defence with captain Adam Parker leading by example.

However, their determination wasn't enough to stop Joe Bowman, whose mazy run ended with a thunderbolt into the roof of the net to take Langwathby into a 2-0 lead.

The Cubs responded in a more than gung-ho fashion, with Henry Marshall being the spearhead of attack. Unfortunately for the home side, the half-time whistle interrupted a fluid five minutes of attacking play.

Castletown manager Ian Marshall's half-time talk worked wonders. Thirty seconds into the restart, Cubs grabbed a deserved goal. Wonderkid Liam McCarron drilled shot off the post which cannoned back to debutant Daniel Holder, who made no error in executing the rebound.

Three minutes later and the game was level at 2-2. McCarron's dribbling proved to be the catalyst again. Skipping past two defenders, the nippy winger cut the ball back from the byline where a flailing leg from a Langwathby defender deflected the ball into his own net.

All square and very much game on – but not for long. That man again, Burrows, made sure his side would take back all three points with an outstanding brace in only four minutes. His first of the two came less than a minute after Castletown's equaliser. With his back to goal, Burrows managed to meg the keeper, round him, and tap into an empty net. A remarkable piece of individual skill.

Burrows' second three minutes later showed that he was not only a fox in the box, but an all-round striker too. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box, Jake took one touch and slammed a powerful effort into the far bottom corner.

Yet, to the credit of the Cubs, they continued battling despite being 4-2 down to a strong opposition. Every single member of the Cubs gave it their all when they were on the playing field, and their exemplary work rate paid off a minute from time when McCarron's solo effort made it 4-3.

Credit must be given to everyone involved in this epic encounter. Not only the players who battled bravely through the unpleasant weather and put on a marvellous show, but coaches, managers and parents too for getting the game to go ahead.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk