Maccabiah Squad Net Barnet Draw
Friendly Match
GB Maccabiah Under 18s 1 Barnet Youth X1 1
Sunday, May 22, 2005
The format for this game was three periods of 30 minutes each and each session was played at breakneck pace.
GB started impressively playing some lovely one touch football for the first ten minutes but gradually Barnet came more into the game and at the end of the session honours were truly even.
Early into the second session GB went ahead when Matt Stock went on a great run down the right wing before cutting to the byline and pulling the ball back into the path of Benji Dymant who struck his shot well from 10 yards out. The goalie got his fingers to it pushing it onto the underside of the bar but it unluckily hit his back and went in. This however was the end of GB's attacking play in this half as playing a
4-5-1 system during this period there were very little attacking options.
The game was very much a midfield battle but Barnet got an equaliser when their right-winger broke clear and squared the ball for their striker to shoot and although it well saved by Danny Berliner, the ball fell at the feet of their other striker who could not miss from six yards out.
The third period of the game was far more open with both sides having good chances to score only to be frustrated by excellent if desperate defending.
This game was of far more value then the easy win against Bishops Stortford as Barnet are a classy outfit and the boys can feel proud of their gritty qualities they showed in this match.
What was missing however was quality on the ball, too often especially in the first period poor distribution from the back gave the ball away time after time and allowed Barnet to increase pressure on the defence.
It would however be churlish to be too critical as the squad as a whole seem to be moving in the right direction.
The major strengths in the squad are the defence in which Michael Sacks and Danny Cole have been outstanding, Kyle Bentwood in midfield has been a rock, and with the pace and control of Matt Stock and Dominic Cheniert (who was unfortunately missing today) up front these boys must have a real chance of making good progress in Israel.
