Boys Football - ESFA Elite Cup

Royal Russell U15As 4-0 Cardinal Newman School

Royal Russell U15As saw themselves up against Cardinal Newman School for their first competitive game of the ESFA Elite Cup.

Both teams started bright with a high intensity to the game from the 1st minute. Royal Russell tried to dominate possession but Cardinal done well to press high and limit Russell early on. After a few chances Russell finally took the lead. Zac Brennan saw his free kick hit the cross, Tom Scarles saw his follow up header also hit the cross bar and Stanley Moore eventually headed home 1-0

Royal Russell started to then play their passing football with Zac Brennan and Joe Kennedy being influential to everything. The 2nd goal came before half time as great build up eventually lead to Evan Newman passing to Dylan De Gale. Dylan expertly dropped his shoulder and whipped his effort from 20 yards into the top corner 2-0.

HT 2-0

Royal Russell came out the traps fast in the 2nd half and really dominated possession. Whilst the back 3 of Tom Gibbs, Bobby Hassell and Harry Dawes dealt with everything that the threatening front 2 of Cardinal Newman had. Zac Brennan got a deserved a goal as he pounced on a loose ball to volley home just outside the box 3-0. The final goal of the game came when Zac Brennan saw his shot saved after some good play and Bobby Hassell followed up to round off an impressive display at Centre Back, 4-0. The final 10/15 minutes saw some really impressive 1 and 2 touch passing from the Royal Russell players who were unlucky not to add more to their tally.

A very professional performance with so many positives. The way the boys pressed together as a team with such intensity, the way the back 3 defended against a good front 2, the way the team passed the ball impressively well against a strong press and the way we made a good side look average. A strong start to the ESFA Elite Cup journey. Not to mention 4 different goal scorers.

Player of the match: Dylan De Gale
Goal scorers: Stanley Moore, Dylan De Gale, Zac Brennan, Bobby Hassell
Assists: Tom Scarles, Evan Newman, Zac Brennan