Boys Football - Friendly

Royal Russell U13As 4-3 City of London

The U13As showed great character to come back not once, not twice but three times in an enthralling encounter vs City of London to win 4-3.

Despite going 1-0 down inside 3 minutes, Royal Russell were passing the ball really well, switching the ball 1 and 2 touch with Sam Hubbard and Tom Curtis being influential in this. Maaliq Peter-Riley picked up the ball at half way line, he slipped in Xavier Mahdi who still had a lot to do but the striker thumped his effort into the top corner from 18 yards out 1-1. City of London took the lead again soon after 1-2. Once again that duo of Maaliq and Xavier allowed Russell to equalise. Maaliq slipped in another great pass and Xavier finished into the bottom left hand corner to make it 2-2.

The normal flow of the game resumed as City of London took the lead for a 3rd time as they converted from the spot after a handball, 2-3. Once again we showed resilience as a team to keep going. Harry Payne whipped in a dangerous corner with Xavier getting a flick on it, the ball eventually fell to Luke Bannon who thumped home, 3-3. The tide of the game finally changed as this time Xavier turned provider as he played a great through ball, Maaliq had the pace and then the composure to round the GK and finish into an empty net, 4-3. We hang on to the win, as the team showed great team spirit to defend as a team until the final whistle.

A fantastic resilient performance coming back 3 times to win the game 4-3.

Player of the match: Xavier Mahdi

Goals: Xavier Mahdi (2), Luke Bannon, Maaliq Peter-Riley

Assists: Xavier Mahdi (2), Maaliq Peter-Riley (2)