TWO sides taking their first steps into 11-a-side football met when Savile Town travelled to Laund Hill for a meeting with YMCA ‘B’.
The Under 11 age group is often a difficult time for youngsters as they’ve been playing Mini-Soccer (7-a-side) for the last few years and some teams take time to become accustomed to 11-a-side games on larger pitches.
Having finished top of their group at Under 10 and playing their first game of the season, Savile Town had high hopes, but they were forced into some serious defending as a strong YMCA side piled on the pressure and after 20 minutes it was the home side who took the lead through Jake Calcutt who found room on the left to fire home at the near post.
Savile Town were anything but dispirited by the setback and immediately went in search of an equaliser but, their famous determination to simply win games by scoring more than their opponents looked like coming unstuck, as YMCA’s Harry Gill, Owen Tattersley and Josh Meadows continued to carve out chances for the home side.
Although his side eventually began to take control as the second half unfolded, Savile Town keeper, Ebrahim Mirza suffered a torrid time and had to pick the ball out of the net on two more occasions as Matthew Brownridge and Scott Singleton increased the YMCA score to three but, the home side were unable to contain Kaleez Ahmed and Shaahid Patez whose non-stop running eventually paid dividends as the Dewsbury side completed a comfortable 3-7 victory.
Ahmed’s shoot on site policy gave him a personal goal haul of four and further goals from Adam Patel, Kareem Mahmood and Mohammed Sacha ensured a winning start for Savile Town.
