Harrogate & Craven School's U16's Friendly, Wednesday 14th March 2007 Harrogate Grammar School Under 16鈥檚 enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 win at Nidderdale High in an Exhibition match played last week. Grammar had a strong pool of 16 players that made the trip to Pateley Bridge by taxi including Graeme and Ross who were both making returns to football following long absences. The start of the match saw Grammar dominating with possession of the ball but unable to create any clear goal scoring opportunities. This hit them hard when Nidderdale raced on the counter-attack and scored the opening goal of the match with a finish from just inside the area beating Proctor. Grammar responded well to this poor start and got an equaliser through Auckland. Weemes produced a through ball to Reffitt who ran with the ball on the edge of the area before producing a straight pass to Auckland in the penalty area who hit a powerful shot through the legs of Langley in the opposition goal. Just before half time, a quick break saw Joel hit the post before Nidderdale desperately scrambled the ball from their box. Half time saw a five-man substitution for Grammar who were determined to play better following a poor first half showing. Their second half performance as it turned out proved to be a lot better. It didn't take long for Grammar to take the lead in the second half when the ball came to Watson who scored with a long shot ironically on his 16th birthday. Grammar continued to attack and went 3-1 ahead thanks to a screamer from Bainbridge who took a couple of touches outside the box before smashing the ball in to the top left corner of the net. There were further chances for Grammar when Kerr鈥檚 powerful header on the right post was tipped over by Langley denying the comeback star his first goal for the School. Then Smith on his debut scored what could have been an amazing goal when what appeared to be a cross from the right side of midfield infact turned out to be a shot which hit the side netting. The 3-1 result win proved to be a satisfactory result and good practice for their important cup match away at King James which will take place on 21st February. Dan Birch |