Kew Association Youth 2-3 Cheam Rangers, 28 Apr, League
This was a first for the team, in the 2 years we have been running; we had to play a midweek match. We were hosting Cheam Rangers, who at the weekend had become league champions for this season, with 3 games left to play. We started the game a little bit better than previous games, where we began very slow. The first 15 minutes was very even, the combination of Jordan and Nathan in central midfield was working well. But on 23 minutes Cheam had a shot from outside of our box, which went in the top right hand corner of our goal. What a nice goal, shame it was against us. 1-0 to Cheam.

From the restart, Kew tried to hit back, but got caught out, and Cheam got their second on 29 minutes. To make matters worse, Cheam scored again on 30 minutes, to make it 3-0. This was starting to look bad, and the lad’s heads were starting to drop. You could see why Cheam are champions, but it was not Cheam that was doing the damage to the lads, it was the negative comments coming from some of our parents. At the half time whistle the coaching staff had some work to do, building the lads confidence back up.

For the second half, the team was given two tasks; one was to test their goal keeper, and the other was to work as a team. A nice pass from Jordan put Danny through on goal, only for their keeper to save his shot. A few minutes later, another pass from midfield saw Niall through on goal, again their keeper was out early, the ball rebounded off him and Farrell watched his attempt go wide. Cheam then stepped up their game and made a break, but our back four were now working together and soaked up the pressure. On 18 minutes, the ball was played out from our keeper to our right back Ben who played it up to Jordan, he then carried the ball forward a few yards before unleashing an unstoppable shot, 3-1 to Cheam.

The confidence was coming back in the team; most of the second half was being played in the Cheam half. On 24 minutes, Zak crossed the ball into Cheam’s area only for one of the defenders to handle it. Penalty to Kew, Danny Kim stepped up to convert the kick to make it 3-2 to Cheam. Kew were starting to believe they could win this game, and on 30 minutes Zak took a shot outside the box, beating their keeper, only for the ball to hit the cross bar and be cleared by their defence. Unfortunately Kew run out of time as the final whistle was blown. So Cheam won this match 3-2.

Well done Kew, you won the second half of this match; and managed to achieve the tasks that were set. You also managed to put the negative comments that were made by some parents behind you. This is an issue I will be eradicating from our games next season.

Kew Association Youth 2-1 Links FC, 25 Apr, League
A beautiful day; we had rain in the morning which was good for the pitches. The good news was that we were playing on the clubhouse pitch. So the only thing really to say to the boys was to go out and play football and enjoy themselves.

As we were playing Links, we requested a strong referee, after the last game against them. Both teams we believe were evenly matched, and it would be a close game. Once again we started with a 4-3-3 formation as we wanted our wide players to run at their defence. But we were again slow out of the blocks. Links were very physical but our team seemed to handle it better today. Kew gave a silly free kick away on 10 minutes play, which then did more damage as Links scored from it to take a 1-0 lead. 

From the restart, the boys dug in and started winning the first tackles. Az and Danny were linking up well on the left side of play, and a nice pass by Az saw Danny run onto it only to be pulled down in their area. Danny picked himself up to take the penalty. He coolly placed the ball to the keeper’s left to make it 1-1. There was still15 minutes left to play in this half, and both teams had chances to score their second, but it stayed 1-1.

In the second half Kew made no changes, as the game was evenly balanced, but after 10 minutes of the second half, Az got caught with a late tackle and had to be subbed off and take no further part in the game. This game started to look like a tennis match as the ball was going back and forth, and both teams were not taking their chances. Then on 72 minutes, Kew had yet another chance, but this time Zak latched on to the ball to net a beautiful goal for Kew’s second. Kew held out for the last few minutes to win the game 2-1.

Well done boys, a hard fought game. You should all be pleased with the way the team played.

Woking Cougars 6-0 Kew Association Youth, 17 April, League
We were away to Woking Cougars having played them 3 weeks ago at home. We ended that game with a draw, although we were the better team that day and should have won the game.

We knew Woking would be playing their strongest team as this would be there last game of the season. They are also challenging Cheam Rangers for top spot. We had no ref so Martin Clarke stepped in to control the game. Woking looked fired up for this game, and from the off they were pushing for an early goal. They were first to the ball, and were hitting the long ball over our defence. The back four today were Ben, Jack, Will & Tom and they did well to regain possession and play it forward, only for Woking’s midfield to win the ball and play it back into our half. On 14 minutes Woking broke through our defence to make it 1-0, then they broke free again on 20 minutes, to make it 2-0; that’s how it stayed till half time.

In the second half, as with most of our other games, we started to play the ball around, and 5 min into the second half, we had our first chance at scoring. Still pressing Kew had another ppportunity, only for the ball to flash pass Woking’s goal. Woking then stepped up their game and scored their 3rd, to make it 3-0. Then on 24 and 25 minutes, Woking scored 2 more goals which even Peter Cech would have had trouble stopping.

Again Kew were working hard, moving the ball from one side to the other, but Woking’s back 4 were soaking up all our pressure. Woking broke away again to score on 68 minutes to make it 6-0. 

Well done to Woking, you can see why they are challenging for the title. They are a very well drilled, strong & physical team. This is our second season in this league and we are learning all the time. We have to put this game behind us and be ready for our next game, against Links. Cheam Rangers and Woking are way ahead of the rest of the teams in this division, but if we focus, we can finish a creditable 3rd.

Kew Association Youth walk-over v Tooting & Mitcham Stripes, 10 Apr, League
Game awarded to Kew. Tooting failed to field a team.

Kew Association Youth 1-1 Sheen Lions, 28 Mar, League
We have already played Sheen Lions three times this season, each time Kew taking all of the points. However, we knew it would be another hard game, as Sheen have made a couple of new signings. Sheen started off the stronger side, and had us on our back foot, producing a couple of good chances. On 8 minutes, Sheen Lions had a shot on target, our keeper thought he had it covered, only to see the ball bounce over him into the net to make it 1-0 to Sheen Lions. A few minutes later Sheen had another shot on target, this time Cameron made a great save to push the ball onto the crossbar and back into his safe hands.

Sheen kept the pressure up and Kew were still finding it hard to get hold of the ball. With 15 minutes played, we decided to switch our formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2. From that point on, Kew started to play football. We now started to win first and second balls in midfield, and put Sheen on their back foot. Now Kew were playing with a lot more confidence too and on 22 minutes Nathan took a shot from just outside the box to make it 1-1. That’s how it stayed until half time.

Second half we seemed to step it up a gear and when we played the ball out to our wings, we were creating chance after chance. The whole team seem to be getting frustrated as we were dominating the whole game but could not find the back of the net. Sheen Lions were now only playing the long ball game, hoping their striker would latch onto something. When their strikers got on to the ball, our defence worked well together to deal with it. With only a few minutes left, we continued to press for the winning goal, only for their keeper to make a couple of good saves, or for our chances to go wide. And in the last minute of play, Sheen Lions again played the long ball, and had a chance to go away with all 3 points, only for the shot to go wide. So the game finish even at 1-1.

Again one of those games where we dominated most of the game, but could not finish off our opponents.

Tooting & Mitcham 0-14 Kew Association Youth, 21 March, League
We visited Tooting & Mitcham after reversing the fixture due to overflow at Kew. Their results have been up and down, so we were unsure what to expect today. In our last two games, Kew has had uphill battles to get the results. We drew with these lads 3-3 earlier in the season, so Daryl and I were not sure what to expect, but we imagined our boys were hoping for an easier game today. Our wishes came true as Tooting only had 9 players, so there should be no-way that Kew should lose this game.

As envisaged, Kew had Tooting on the back foot right from kick off and with just two minutes gone, Arvyn scrambled the ball over the line to make it 1-0 to Kew. Three minutes later, Jordan had a shot, their keeper made a good save but couldn’t hold on to the ball, and Jordan followed up to make it 2-0 to Kew.

Kew continued the relentless pressure and on 10 minutes Jordan received the ball outside Tooting’s box, and slotted the ball in the top left hand corner, that was 3-0 to Kew. Tooting had not troubled our defence, so they had plenty of time to pick out their passes, and on 19 minutes Tom Clarke made a defence-splitting pass forward for Farrell to run onto, keeping his composure to round the keeper and pass the ball into an open net making it 4-0. The last couple of weeks Farrell has been one-on-one with the keepers, only for him to hit the ball wide of posts or saved by the keeper, so today his confidence returned. In the next 13 minutes, 5 more goals were added by Nathan (22 minutes), Jordan (25), Arvyn (29), Az (30) and Farrell (32), making the score 9-0 at half time.

The second half started with us telling the boys to concentrate more on their passing, movement, and spreading the ball around as the game had already been won. It was also nice to be in a situation where we could give all the players a good run out. In the 39th minute Danny Kim got his first goal for the club with a neat finish that made it 10-0. We continued to move the ball around with ease, new signing Ben Legge made a well weighted pass down the right for Az to run onto, to get his second and Kew’s 11th. Two minutes later, Arvyn completed his well earned hat trick 12–0, Jordan then got his 4th of the match, before Niall finished the game off with Kew’s 14th goal on 56 minutes.

Well done boys, we would love to think we could score as many against them with a full squad, but maybe a wish too far.  Also, as we all know it is not all about the goal scorers, well done to Kew’s defence on keeping another clean sheet, as with having so much pressure it is easy to be caught out and concede a silly goal.

Thanks again to our resident linesman Martin Clark, and a mention to young referee Jamie Lusard who had a very competent game. On finishing, our congratulations go to Tooting & Mitcham’s team for battling right to the end, never once dropping their heads and to their parents for their continued support for their lads in the face of adversity, a lesson we could all learn from. 

Kew Association Youth 2-1 Links FC, 14 Mar, League
Kew welcome Links for the first time this season. Before the start of play, Links were in 4th place with Kew hot on their heels in 5th. A win for us and we would leapfrog Links into 4th. We have heard from other teams that Links are a very physical team - as we don’t play like that, we knew we were going to have a real hard game. In the first couple of minutes, the Links midfield were coming in with some hard tackles and seem to want to intimidate our players. We had a break away to the right where Jordan put a ball through to Farrell only for him to hit it wide.

As well as dealing with pushing and blocking from Links players, our players also had to deal with lot of bad calls from the ref. That included him giving Links a penalty which everyone else could see the foul was committed outside the box. Links scored from that to make it 1-0 to Links. From that point on, a few of our players’ heads started to drop. The continuous bad calls or lack off it did not help the situation; the coaching staffs were more relieved than the players to hear the half time whistle, with no further addition to the score.

We had to make a couple of subs as the players didn’t want to carry on playing in the situation caused by the ref. Somehow the rest of the team found another gear and started to battle. We were camped in Links half but could not find the finishing touch. On 23 minutes, we moved the ball from the right over to the left, where Zak picked up the ball, carried the ball past Links right back and crossed the ball in. Niall latched on to the ball and slotted it past their keeper to get Kew’s first, 1-1.

Kew kept the pressure on. This was better from Kew, as in the first half we were being bullied off the ball. Again Zak got the better of their right back and crossed the ball into their box. Nathan got hold of the ball but could not get it out of his feet, only for the Links defence to clear the ball away. We pushed the ball back into their box, there was a scramble and Niall scored what we thought was his 2nd, only for the ref to disallow the goal.

Again the ref had made a bad call. This got our players backs up as they were now working really hard to win this game. 32 minutes played and Danny made a run down the right and was dribbling the ball into the box, only to be fouled in the same spot as the Links player in first half. The only difference this time is the ref gave a free kick and not a penalty. Tom Clarke stepped up to take the free kick, he struck the ball inch perfect to hit the top right of the goal giving their keeper no chance. You could imagine the adrenaline going through the players as they had just had a perfectly good goal disallowed minutes earlier. 2-1 to Kew, and with only a few minutes left the ref stopped the game to book Tom for not having his shirt on. As no foul was committed the game should have been started with a drop ball, only for the referee to give them the free kick. But Kew held on to win the game 2-1.

This will have been our toughest game yet, but we managed to come out of it with a win. It’s a shame the game was spoiled by bad language from their players and continuous bad calls from the ref. Well done Kew.

Kew Association Youth 2-2 AC Fulham, 7 Mar, League
This would be our 3rd match against Fulham; the scores are even, one game each. Our plan was to stop their quick players running at our back line, and try to stretch them. Again we started with a 4-3-3 formation, as the team now have learnt to switch to 4-4-2 very quickly if we need to.

The game was fairly even to start with, and then Kew started to give the ball away very cheaply. After about 20 minutes, Kew’s game started to come back, and we started to pass the ball around. Then on half an hour, Fulham knocked a ball forward, our centre defender Will was first to the ball and coolly passed back to our keeper Erikson, who then calmly passed the ball out to our left back Jamie; from there the ball was passed forward to Nathan, who then passed back to Jamie who had continued his run, and then he passed it onto Jordan who then hit an unstoppable shot to make it 1-0 to Kew. But at the stroke of half time Fulham hit back with a well taken goal to even the scores at 1-1.

The second half again started evenly, but Kew stepped up their game and we were creating more chances. On 50 minutes the game was stopped as a player from both teams went down injured. With some magic water both players were okay to carry on. The ref said as he called both coaches onto the pitch to attend to their players, both players had to go off. He said he must stick to the rules. The game continued and Kew gave the ball away again and got caught out, Fulham went on to score in the 55th minute to make it 2-1 to them.

Kew had now changed formation to 4-4-2 and we started to dominate the midfield. After some good interchange between players, Arvyn pushed the ball forward and ran passed Fulham’s defence only to have his shirt pulled back by their last man. As the ref had said 10 minutes previously, he must stick to the rules, so we all thought the player would be sent off. To our dismay the ref only gave him a yellow card. Even the Fulham coach looked surprise and said he should have been sent off.

The game was restarted with a free kick to Kew. Tom Clarke stepped up to take it, the ball was floated into the box for Jordan to latch onto to score his 2nd to make it 2-2. With 10 min left all the game was in the Fulham half; we had chance after chance, only for the ball to go wide, off the post or stopped by their keeper. With a couple of minutes left, Farrell saw the keeper off his line and try to chip him, only for the ball to go the wrong side of the crossbar. So the score stayed 2-2 at full time.

Well done again boys, a very good achievement, as we are only in our second season, and to take points off teams that have been together for 4 or 5 years shows how far we have come.

Kew Association Youth 3-3 Woking Cougars, 21 Feb, League
As we turned up to the ground, the skies opened up and rained for about 20 minutes. But thanks to the groundsman and some parents, the pitch was made playable. We had to warm up off the pitch and on a small area next to it, so preparation was not what we are used to. We kicked off with a 4-3-3 formation as the team played really well last week with the same formation. Woking’s front man was very quick and was testing our back line. We tried to counter attack, but they were snuffing us out.

Then a flurry of goals. On 13 minutes, Woking scored their first, when Kew’s defence was caught napping and added a second on 15 min. From the kick off Woking was pressing again, but we managed to get a few passes together, and Niall latched onto a pass from Arvyn to slot it past the Woking keeper to make it 2-1 to Woking on 17 minutes. Just as we thought we were getting back into the game, Woking hit us on the counter attack to score again on 20 minutes, making it 3-1.

Woking seemed to be overloading the midfield, so we decided to change formation to 4-4-2. We dropped Jordan back into midfield to join Arvyn, Lewis and Nathan. This resulted in stopping Woking cutting through the middle and eased some of the pressure off the back four. The game seems to be more even now, and Kew settled into their passing game. This resulted in us getting the upper hand and Niall again hit the ball low to their keeper’s left to score his second and making it 3 – 2 to Woking on 32 minutes. At half time Woking were the more relieved as Kew were now playing very well.

The start of the second half was much the same, both teams working really hard, but the play was mostly in their half. We were creating more chances than Woking, and on 50 minutes Nathan won the ball in midfield and made a nice pass to the right for AZ to pick up and he continued his run with the ball and netted Kew’s third to make it 3-all. We substituted our two front men, Niall and Zak, who both had excellent games and replaced them with Boo and our new signing Danny Kim.

With only 10 minutes to the end of the game, you could sense the team knew they could win this match, and we continued to attack, putting Woking on the back foot. Firstly, we were playing the ball over to the right for Boo to run with, and then switching to the left for Danny to run with. With only a few mins to go Danny beat their full back, but Woking’s quick thinking goal keeper prevented him from getting his debut goal. The score finished at 3-3.

Well done Kew once again you worked hard as a team. We play Woking again next week at their place, let’s hope we have a better start and take the game to them.

Cheam Sports Colts 2-5 Kew Association Youth, 14 Feb, League
Once again we are on the road, this time at Cheam Sports. We were here 3 weeks ago and we had a nightmare of a game, when we were second to the ball and very unfit. This Sunday, we asked the team not only to play football but play today for some pride. We started a 4-3-3 formation as we wanted to move the ball around, and stretch their defence. Last time their front man did so much damage to us, so the job for our defence was not to give them any room.

We started play and the lads moved the ball as requested, in the first 5 minutes Jordan Beard had a chance but went over the bar. On 12 minutes Jordan latched on to a pass and netted our first. Jordan again hit the net on 14 minutes with a shot outside the box. Up to 15 minutes, Cheam had not troubled our goalkeeper, but our defence went to sleep and let their danger man go free, and he hit the net on 16 minute making it 2-1 to Kew.

Once we switched back on, the defence was strong again and winning the ball played it forward to Lewis on the right wing. He passed forward to Farrell who shot from outside the box and it went in off one of their players to make it 3-1 to Kew. That’s how it stayed till half time.

In the second half, we pushed forward from the off, and Jordan got his hat trick one minute in, that made it 4-1 to Kew. Kew were now playing very good football all over the park, the defence was strong and getting stuck in, but again Cheam’s danger man was left unmarked and he netted another to make it 4-2 to Kew. After a few strong words from the side, the defence and midfield stepped up their game. We had a few more chances, but for the effort of their goalkeeper the score stayed at 4-2 until Zak Mekki unleashed one of his left foot classics to make the final score 5-2 to Kew.

That’s how it stayed to the final whistle. 10 minutes from the end Cheam’s danger man asked to be subbed, which meant our back four had achieved their goal, by not giving their forwards anytime on the ball. The whole team worked really hard, their approach and passion for the game was 100% - well done boys.

Aldershot Town Blues 3-0 Kew Association Youth, 7 Feb, Invitation Cup
by Daryl Rosier

We lost 3-0 away in the cup to unbeaten top of Division One league, Aldershot Town Blues, with a depleted squad, I must add, and only 12 players. We were 1-0 down with 8 mins to go but were pushing for an equaliser and got caught on break, but on this showing we would have seemingly held our own in Divsion One this year. I think if we had scored to make it 1-1, we might well have gone on to win.

Cheam Sports Colts 3-1 Kew Association Youth, 24 Jan, League

AC Fulham 2-1 Kew Association Youth, 13 Dec, League
by Howard Rhiney

Kew U13 was away to A.C. Fulham, last time we played them; it was on a junior pitch. Fulham have very quick players so the small pitch suited them more. This time we were hoping to play on the full size pitch, but that didn’t happen.

The game was end to end, and both teams had chances. On 15 minutes we had a corner, which Zak took and Arvyn headed the ball in to make it 1-0 to Kew. We kept pressing but Fulham’s defence was working hard. We got a free kick just outside their area. Zak stepped up to take the kick, struck the ball perfectly and with power, but it hit one of their players almost knocking him out. The half seemed to finish very quickly, just as we were pressing for our second goal.

In the second half, again it was end to end play, then Fulham made it 1-1 on 46 minutes. As the game went on, the decisions didn’t go our way and the boys heads seem to drop. Fulham broke away and made it 2-1 on 59 minutes. With about 11 minutes left to play the coaching staff and parents tried to lift our boys, but again the time seem to go quickly again before the final whistle was blown.

Let’s just hope when they come to us and play on a full size pitch the outcome will be different.

Sheen Lions Pride 0-6 Kew Association Youth, 29 Nov, League
by Howard Rhiney

This was our third meeting with Sheen Lions this season, and, after last week’s performance, we needed to get our game back. With Jordan Beard returning after illness, the balance and bite was resumed. The weather was bad and the pitch was a bit heavy, but we knew we still had to try to play our passing game. We kept our 4-4-2 formation, and we decided to start Nathan up front today, as he can cover the ground quickly.

Right from the kick off Sheen Lions were pressing, and forced our back line to make an error, but fortunately they could not make it count. Kew quickly composed themselves and started to play. With Kew passing the ball around, Nathan received the ball just inside the box and neatly put the ball away to score on 8 minutes. Arvyn & Jordan controlled the midfield and were picking their passes; Jordan made a pass into Farrell just outside the six yard box and Farrell slotted the ball into the net to make it 2-0 to Kew on 14 minutes. Farrell scored his second and Kew’s third on 27 minutes. Sheen Lions had a go at our defence but after their slip up at the start, the defence were in full control. The scored stayed at 3-0 at half time.

We made a couple of subs just before the end of the first half as we didn’t want to make the same mistake as in previous games, by making too many subs in one go. So Kew started the second half with the team fully balanced. Jordan picked the ball up just outside their area and unleashed an unstoppable shot to make it 4-0 to Kew on 46 minutes. As Sheen Lions only played one up front, we could push a couple of our defenders forward which let the midfield go forwards too. Lewis, like all the lads was working at 100% and made a couple of good runs down the right, and made a nice cross into their box, and if one of our strikers had got on the end of it, it would have been the goal of the season. Arvyn made one of his runs and took a shot, beating the keeper but not the post. But on 60 minutes Arvyn made it 5-0.

Kew passed the ball around like they were having a training session. We created a few more chances and Zak finish the match off with one of his speciality, by hitting a goal with his left foot, to make it 6-0.

Well done Kew, the coaching staff didn’t have to say much to the boys. They played their own football today and were in full control. Thanks to parents for getting the boys to the game on time, in such bad conditions and supporting the team. Also many thanks to Martin Clark for running the line once again.

Kew Association Youth 0-4 Cheam Rangers, 22 Nov, League

Ashford Town 2-7 Kew Association Youth, 15 Nov, Invitation Cup
by Howard Rhiney

We were away to Ashford Town this week, and after all the rain, the pitch held up very well. The pitch suited our way of playing. Right from the start, we were passing the ball around with confidence. After 5 minutes, we were on the score sheet first, with a goal from Arvyn. Nathan hit the second after picking up the loose ball in their area, and with loads of confidence placing the ball round the keeper.  The third goal was a fantastic move which started from the back. The keeper rolled the ball out to J.T. who stood in at right back, with a nice pass down the line to Lewis Harvey, who then crossed it in to Jordan who hit the net on 20 minutes. We continued to dominate the game and on 32 minutes, Arvyn was one-on-one with their keeper who then pulled him down, winning us a free kick. Jordan took the free kick but their keeper had the ball covered. So it stayed at 3-0 for the rest of the half.

The start of the second half, we made a few changes to the team. Nathan hit our fourth on 42 minutes. Then Kew went to sleep for about 10 minutes as Ashford hit 2 quick goals on 47 and 49 minutes, making it 4-2 to Kew.  After a few words from the sideline, we got our shape back and started passing the ball around again. We had spoken about Ashford’s two centre midfielders and when we played around them, the chances just kept coming. Niall got our fifth on 53 minutes. On 56 minutes we had to bring Jamie off with a bad foot, we then had to put Nathan at left back, which was a shame as he was fired up and looked like he wanted to get his hat-trick. Keeping up the pressure and playing very well, Arvyn pick the ball up just outside their area, fought his way in to score our sixth & his second. Zak finished Ashford off with our seventh goal.

Thanks to Martin for doing the line, Regina for doing the scores and big thanks goes out to all the parents for their support.

Kew Association Youth 1-8 Hampton & Richmond Juniors, 8 Nov, Surrey FA Cup

Tooting and Mitcham Stripes 3-3 Kew Association Youth, 1 Nov, League

Kew Association Youth 13-0 Cheam Sports, 18 Oct, League
by Trevor Taylor

With a lovely sunny day and all boys present, we kicked off with a 4-4-2 formation. The boys were asked to step up their game and get a goal within the first 5 minutes, which eventually saw them score on 5 minutes and 22 seconds, with a nice link up play from Boo to Nathan and then for Farrell to shoot just inside the box, to make it 1-0.

Four minutes later saw us win a throw in, which Charlie Rosier threw a long ball for Nathan to knock on and Boo to fire home a lovely volley on the edge of the box to make it 2-0. With goals coming thick and fast Boo went through again on 13 minutes to beat the keeper and make it 3-0 and 9 minutes later Nathan scored from a through ball from midfield, and beat the keeper on his left hand post, to make it 4-0. Unfortunately Cheam Sports tried their hardest to get back into the game, but with Kew playing strong an pushing the ball around like premier football stars the inevitable was going to happen and on 32 minutes Arvyn ran through their defence and slotted a lovely ball under their keeper to make 5-0 just before half time.

As all was going well and the decision to bring Jordan Beard from midfield to striker, and put Arvyn in a holding roll proved a fantastic move, as we scored another 8 goals in the second half. A particular midfielder was the star of the day and that was our goalkeeper Erikson who had the opportunity to play out on pitch as Cameron took his place between the sticks. Erikson crowned an excellent performance, scoring a beautiful goal from just inside the 6 yard box.

The 8 goals second half goals came from Boo (46 minutes), Arvyn (55), Jordan (59), Lewis (62), Jordan(67), Erikson (70), Jordan (72), Zak (74).

AC Fulham 2-3 Kew Association Youth, 11 Oct, League

Kew Association Youth 9-1 Sheen Lions Pride, 4 Oct, League
by Daryl Rosier

We hosted Sheen Lions Pride for the second time in a week, the previous week being a closely fought First Round Invitation Cup game which we eventually won 3-2 AET, after coming from behind twice.

We knew that Sheen would be up for revenge so we had to make sure the lads were switched on right from the start. For the first fifteen minutes the game ebbed and flowed, much like the previous week but then Kew started to stamp their authority on the game. It seemed only a matter of time before the first goal came, and on 20 minutes, after a fine build up, the ball was fed back for Jordan Beard on the edge of the area to send a fine strike high into the roof of Sheen’s net, leaving their keeper with no chance. Six minutes later it was 2-0 when Charlie (Boo) Wheeler pounced on a loose ball in the area. Two minutes later, Boo got his second and Kew’s third, when he finished off a fine passing move, heading home Lewis Harvey’s fine cross from close range. Sheen pulled one back on 31 minutes to make it 3-1 at the interval.

Kew came out blazing in the second half determined not to let this two goal lead slip. But it proved a one way affair with Kew’s quick passing and movement splitting Sheen’s midfield and defence open time and time again. Lewis Harvey scored on 42 minutes after a superb build up and fine cross from Niall Cunningham to neatly dispatch the cross into the net. Zak Mekki hit a fine left foot strike to make it 5-1 on 44 minutes and Boo completed a fine hat trick on 46 minutes to make it 6-1. Niall Cunningham helped himself to two goals on 48 and 65 minutes and Jordan Beard got his second from the penalty spot to complete a fine all round performance.

Congratulations also to our defence and goalkeepers for staying focused throughout the game and even late on when Sheen pushed their big defenders up to try to score and salvage something from the game.

Thank you to dad Martin Clark for again stepping up and running the line as without the likes of Martin we would not have linesmen. Next Match is away to table-topping AC Fulham.

Kew Association Youth 3-2 Sheen Lions Pride, aet, 27 Sep, Invitation Cup
by Trevor Taylor

Our first cup match against Sheen Lions saw another beautiful day and what eventually turned out to be a joyous day. With our team down to a bare 12 and our captain Charlie Rosier being the 12th man with a bruised spine, we had no choice but to apply pressure from kick off, which we did with great application. We played with confidence and pushed the ball all around the park, spreading it from left to right and showing that we can create space and movement.

As with all things, Kew had the upper hand but Sheen Lions got a surprise goal on the break, which just flew in our left hand post. But with our boys determinedly not wanting another loss, they composed themselves. They played it around to find Jordan Beard, who turned three midfielders and make a run and then do what Jordan does best, scoring a fantastic goal from the edge of the box to leave their keeper picking it up from the back of the net. Sheen Lions got back into it though, which resulted in us going 1-2 down ten minutes after.

With Arvin coming off with a calf strain half way through the second half, Charlie Rosier came on in his place, even though he was in pain. But it gave us a opportunity for Tom Clarke, our defender to take over Arvin’s role in midfield, which he did extremely well, and Charlie slotted into right back. Our new signing, Will Thistleton reorganised our back four to keep on pushing and eventually the ball was played out from defence to midfield where Jordan Beard again turned their midfield inside out and beat 2 players to score what would be a contender for match of the day - from way outside the box he put a beautiful ball into the top right hand corner to leave their keeper with no chance.  That made it 2-2, sending us into extra time.

With it being only 7 mins each way, we knew it was time to dig deep, and finally, with 3 mins left on the clock in the 2nd half of extra time, the ball fell on to the edge of the penalty box and with several of our players pouncing on it, Farrell took full control with a classy touch to push it forward. He made a very clever move to drag it wide from 2 defenders and give himself a beautiful position on goal, then he lifted the ball up and away to the right of their keeper to score a powerful goal and win the match for us, 3-2.

Woking Cougars 2-1 Kew Association Youth, 13 Sep, League
by Trevor Taylor

Kew played away to Woking Cougars, on a pleasant sunny day, to open the 2009/2010 campaign with a fresh 4-4-2.

A good start saw Jordan Beard make a fantastic run into the box, only to be pulled down for a penalty. Tom Clarke stepped up to take the penalty but the Cougars keeper made a fantastic save to stop us going 1-0 up. Ten minutes later Cougars scored to take the lead and leave us 1-0 down. As we re-grouped and finally settled down, we managed to break down the left, where Zac put in a cross for Farrell to smash in a beautiful goal to make it 1-1.  But Cougars finally got through and put a high shot in to see it fly straight into the net. to make it a 2-1 defeat.

There must be a special special mention of our captain Charlie Rosier who saved time and time again. Charlie has a bruised spine and played out of his skin. With his 100 per cent commitment and never ducking out of a challenge, he played on through pain and stopped a Cougar attack on more than one occasion. So well done Charlie Rosier.

Kew Association Youth 1-6 Wandgas, 6 Sep, friendly
by Trevor Taylor

With a nice warm day we played our second friendly against the premier side Wandgas at our home ground.

With all players present except Az Haque , we did a nice warm up for 45 minutes to give the boys a good chance of not straining any muscles in their now 70 minutes of football ahead.

With a starting side of a 4-3-3, and Charlie Rosier leading the team as captain, we had a great start within the first 2 minutes with Farrell Rhiney breaking down the left, to put in a fantastic cross for Zac Mekki to score, putting us 1-0 up.

Unfortunately Wandgas being the top premier side fought back hard to level the sides at 1-1, just three minutes later.  On 12 minutes some good play by our back four put Jordan Beard away from a ball over the top, only for the Wandgas defence to just do enough to see Jordan’s effort millimetres wide of the bottom left hand post.

For the next 20 minutes you couldn’t tell who was the premier side or not, but with our fitness levels being not sharp enough, the premier leader’s legs proved to be the final edge with the final result ending 6-1.

With a good team talk at half time by Michael, and a 4-4-2 formation being sent out for the second half, we set the next half’s action on stopping the premier side shooting outside the box. In the next 35 mins, Wandgas only managed one shot, as the boys responded fantastically. With Jack Taylor coming off half way through the second half and Arvyn Fuentes coming back in defence from midfield, it gave us another look at what positions other boys could move into.

So it was a good chance for Daryl Rosier and Howard Rhiney to adjust the team and try a different formation.

Even though the result tells a different story, our boys showed that we were just as good as them, but fitness levels gave way in the end. So now we can go ahead into the season with confidence, having played a top premier side and matching them for, play, speed and agility, and proving, as we did last season, that we can score goals and beat anybody, but fitness is the key. Well done boys, they were two leagues above us and we matched them. Let’s get to work in training and finish in the top 4 of our league.