Wednesday 28 November 2012

‘Two year plan’ to generate young prospects at Redbridge Football Club


Redbridge have revealed a ‘Two year plan’ at the Ryman League North club which will bring in young, talented players through the system.

The Motormen manager Del Robinson, also a coach at West Ham United, has expressed his intent of finding younger players who ‘want to wear the shirt’.

Robinson revealed the managing duo are keen to look towards the youngsters, “I think when managers come into new clubs and the supporters have expectations, sometimes you’ve just got to start from the beginning and that’s what me and Steve [Portway] want to do.”

“We’ve got a lot of younger players training with us now down at the training camp and we’re encouraging them to train with the older guys and hopefully one day they’ll end up being Redbridge players.

“It’s a two year project.” Robinson confirmed.

Talking in a more recent fixture, Robinson was adamant that the players in his squad must want to play for the club rather than just wanting to play football, “We need to get our own guys in who want to wear the shirt.”

“We had a few people around us that were looking for a game of football, I don’t want that, I want players that want to play for the club.

“The younger elements that will want to be here on a night like this and want to learn, that’s what we want, I’d rather lose with that.” Robinson said.

Redbridge are currently second-from-bottom in the Ryman North division, with just two wins from 14 matches. The Motormen have conceded 43 times this campaign, the most goals in the league.

Redbridge were formally known as Ford United prior to July 2004, but the name was changed in an attempt to attract a larger support within the local area.

Thursday 22 November 2012

Redbridge slip to record defeat as Concord hit nine

Redbridge co-manager Del Robinson was expecting a heavy defeat against Concord Rangers in the third round of the Ryman League Cup, and that’s exactly what he got.

Concord ran out 9-0 winners to inflict the heaviest defeat in history on the Motormen, but Robinson always had an eye on Saturday’s big clash with fellow strugglers Ilford.

“It’s what I expected, they’re good players and it’s a bit of a lesson. We’re thinking about Saturday really,” said Robinson, following Jason Hallett’s six goals at Oakside, which saw a young Redbridge side thrashed.

The scoring began in the first 30 seconds as Hallett was on the end of Harry Elmes cross which came from a quick-throw.

Just minutes later the lead was doubled as Jerome Walker’s ball into the box was miskicked by a Redbridge defender and fell straight to Hallett, who found the net again.

The ball seemed to be glued to Hallett’s feet when Danny Spendlove’s corner fell to the Beachboys’ number nine who completed his hat-trick just thirty minutes into the game.

Despite Billy Ledine’s efforts in the Motormen’s goal, it was 4-0 five minutes later, another Spendlove corner was met by the head of Elmes whose header was tipped onto the bar by the keeper, but none-other-than Hallett was there to score his and Concord’s fourth.

Hallett looked like scoring every time he touched the ball, although there was a one-off occasion where the striker failed as he hit the post following a low cross into the box by Ade Osifuwa.

A controversial moment came just before half-time as Hallett was played through on goal after a long run by Spendlove until he was clattered by Stephen Ikumelo, but the referee waved away the protests.

Substitute Tony Stokes almost provided a fifth as he flicked the ball onto Walker, who ran through the Redbridge defence and got a shot off but a fantastic save by Ledine denied him.

The travelling supporters didn’t have long to wait though as a fantastic low cross by Osifuwa found Hallett at the far post for his fifth of the game.

With 30 minutes remaining, a short corner by the visitors was played to Spendlove who crossed the ball into the area before Stokes headed the ball past Ledine for 6-0.

It was one-way traffic as Redbridge failed to make the Concord ‘keeper work all game, but matters got worse five minutes later when Ikumelo brought down Stokes in the penalty area. Hallett’s penalty kick was saved by Ledine, but the rebound fell straight to the striker’s feet, gifting him his sixth goal of the match.

Stokes always looked dangerous since coming off the bench and he deserved his second goal of the game as he was fed the ball by Jack Lampe before cutting inside to curl a lovely effort into the far corner of the goal making it 8-0.

The final goal of the game came with just six minutes remaining – Stokes was involved again as the substitute set-up another by squaring the ball across the goal for Billy Knott to finish off what was a thumping victory for Concord Rangers

Monday 12 November 2012

Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Southampton U21s


Table-topping Spurs thumped Southampton 4-0 with former Saints loanee Yago Falque netting twice at White Hart Lane.

 
Early chances fell to Southampton striker Sam Hoskins in the opening 15 minutes, but the rapid forward couldn’t quite find the net.

Ben Reeves’ freekick on 21 minutes was dealt with well by the Tottenham defence, before a quick counter-attack saw Dean Parrett in space bursting into the Saints’ half. Parrett slotted a perfectly weighted ball into Falque who showed composure by finishing nicely past Chris Jones in the Southampton goal.

Just three minutes later, the home side found themselves two-up. The impressive Tom Carroll crossed a well-flighted ball into the box which found the head of Jonathan Obika who headed nicely past Jones.

It looked set to be an uphill task for the Saints, but the visitors managed to look more comfortable on the ball, skipper Ben Reeves was particularly impressive in possession.

Although the hosts added another to their tally a minute into first-half stoppage time, this time Obika turned provider for Falque, the former Southampton loanee then bent a fantastic curling shot which hit the top of the far post before nestling into the net.

With a three-goal cushion, Spurs were happy to keep possession after the interval as Southampton began to tire.

Chances were few and far between in the second period and it was the Saints who had the first after 63 minutes, Joe Curtis stole the ball from a Tottenham defender before showing neat footwork to get a shot off, but Lawrence Vigouroux done well to save the effort.

Just over five minutes later, Southampton looked set to score again. Reeves played Sam Hoskins through on goal which led to a one-on-one situation but Hoskins’ shot was saved by the leg of Vigouroux.

The three-goal cushion seemed a little flattering for the hosts considering chances were becoming consistent from the men in red. With just over 10 minutes remaining Curtis played an accurate ball out wide to the pacey Jake Sinclair, who returned the pass with a deep cross which found the feet of Curtis but the shot was palmed wide for a corner.

Almost instantly after, Tottenham added insult to injury with a fourth but they certainly saved the best until last. Substitute Souleymane Coulibaly picked up the ball on the left-hand side and just struck an ambitious shot which nestled into the top right corner stunning everyone at the Lane.

Within the two minutes additional time, Reeves managed to worm his way through a number of Spurs defenders before hitting a right-footed shot which looked to be going into the top corner of the goal but Vigouroux was at full stretch to keep his clean sheet.

Tottenham Hotspur: Lawrence Vigouroux, Ryan Fredericks, Kevin Stewart, Massimo Luongo (C), Grant Hall, Tom Carroll, Yago Falque, Ryan Mason, Jonathan Obika, Dean Parrett, Cristian Ceballos.

Southampton: Chris Jones, Danny Butterfield, Matt Targett, Joe Curtis, Bevis Mugabe, Jordan Turnball, Jake Sinclair, Corby Moore, Sam Hoskins, Ben Reeves (C), Lloyd Isgrove.

Friday 2 November 2012

Cheshunt manager Faulkner fuming after defeat

CHESHUNT manager Tony Faulkner was left fuming after his side’s 2-1 defeat at Redbridge on Saturday.
 
 
UNHAPPY: Cheshunt manager Tony Faulkner
UNHAPPY: Cheshunt manager Tony Faulkner
“After 20 years of managing, that’s probably the most one sided defeat I’ve ever been involved in,” he told Josh Harris.
 
“We had 37 crosses into their box. We felt like we had three really good penalty shouts, one which he (the Redbridge defender) punched underneath the bar and he (the referee) gave a corner.
 
“Glenn’s (Williamson, the Cheshunt keeper) made a howler in the first half where he’s punched it into his own net.”
 
Faulkner admitted: “They didn’t even have an attack in the second half – it was our mistake for their second goal.
“It was very, very frustrating. As a manager you look at yourself and think ‘is there anything else I could have done?’ Glenn’s had one save in the whole game.”
 
Going into Saturday’s match, Cheshunt side had the best scoring record in the league, but with just the one goal against Redbridge, the manager blamed the lack of goals on his attackers.
 
“Our final third and delivery wasn’t as good as it could be, but having said that, we had enough quality on some of the balls.”
 
Looking ahead to this Saturday’s clash against Harlow Town, Faulkner said he expected a positive result. “It has to be a win,” he told Josh Harris.
 
“If we’re going to fulfil our goals (play-off positions), you’ve got to win the game. I expect to win every game, there’s no one in the league we fear.
 
“We know on our day we’re as good as anyone and better than most. We’re going to go into that game against Harlow firing, were angry now. We need to get it out of our system.”