Roach Under 7s Blacks made the trip to Radcliffe Juniors and were looking to increase their impressive start to the season. Roach settled quickly and had some good possession but lacked the killer touch in front of goal, both Kieran McIlvenny and Josh Brooks missing early chances. Roach then suffered a disastrous ten minute spell which saw them concede twice. An over exuberance to attack left Roach short at the back and the Radcliffe forward raced clear with electric pace to slot the ball past the helpless Max Murray. In their attempts to score an equaliser Roach once again over committed going forward and the Radcliffe forward outpaced Logan Potts to make it 2-0. It seemed as though Roach had learnt their lesson and went in search of a goal in a more structured way, as opposed to the gung-ho way they had started. Good work from Niall Morris found Ciaran Sherry in space but his cross was blocked for a throw in. Brooks launched a long throw deep into the box where a Radcliffe defender blatantly handled it and present Roach with a penalty. Morris took the penalty and coolly slotted it past the keeper to make it 2-1.
A stern but encouraging word at half time seemed to do the trick, as Roach started the second halve impressively. Curtis Newsham went off on another winding run and was just about to shoot when a Radcliffe defender got a last ditch tackle in. Ethan Armstrong found Morris in space and his cross was drilled across the face of the goal towards Brooks at the back post, but the ball was too quick for him and his effort was wide of the post. A rare Radcliffe attack was broken up by Potts and a good ball by Armstrong found Morris whose goalbound shot was blocked and fell to Brooks, from an acute angle he squeezed the ball under the keeper to equalise for Roach. Starting to feel as though their luck had changed Roach stormed forward, Newsham again in the thick of the action was tackled, the ball fell to McIlvenny and he smashed home Roach’s 3rd to make it 3-2. Radcliffe weathered the storm as Roach rampaged forward in droves, McIlvenny, Armstrong and Newsham all unlucky not to increase the lead. A touch of over-confidence crept into Roach, Radcliffe cleared a corner and the ball fell kindly to their forward whose pace took him beyond Brooks and in spite of last ditch attempts by Potts he completed an impressive hat-trick to make it 3-3. Roach felt a little hard done to as their second half performance really did warrant them picking up a win. An excellent team performance from an ever improving set of talented youngsters saw Niall Morris named Man of the Match for an excellent performance.
