The Cedar U7 players with their 'game faces' on. Photo: Provided

The triumphant Cedar U7 players with their coach Walter Reich. Photo: Provided

Action in the game between Cedar U7 and SDA Primary U7 on October 24, 2016. Photo: Provided

Cedar’s defense was resolute, starting with Joshua Noblett-Diaz and Alexander McKenzie who continually frustrated the two key strikers of Seventh-day Adventist team.

Both Joshua and Alexander were key in keeping a clean sheet together with the standout goal keeping of young Sam Sorrentino in the first half and Ethan Singh in the second half. Ethan in particular being the busier of the two in the second half as the Seventh-day lads searched for an equaliser.

It was early in the first half that rookie sensation Ethan Singh would open his goal scoring account after some extremely hard work to create a scoring chance.

A lovely finish found the back of the net as the net bulged with the force of the kick – the beautiful finish equalled in finesse only by Ethan Singh’s goal celebration that took him around the pitch like a 747. His celebration seemed to calm everyone down, including coaches and travelling supporters, who could all be seen with smiles from ear-to-ear. 

The relief was evident for everyone after Ethan Mohamed had missed agonisingly wide of both posts earlier in the game on two brilliant plays.

Own goal

Further relief came in the form of an own goal from one Seventh-day player who for one moment forgot which goal they were scoring on. 

However, in the second half, Ethan Mohamed cashed in, scoring the important third goal with a much deserved goal that found the corner of the goal – a precision shot practiced over and over on Saturday morning football provided much needed breathing space for the young Cedar team who would see out the game keeping the clean sheet.

The team’s next game is Thursday evening, October 27, 2016 against Bregado Flax.

“It will be a good early test for the players,” remarked Cedar’s Coach Walter Reich. He said Bregado Flax are well coached and always well organised.

He reminded everyone that Cedar’s focus remains on player/team development rather than focusing on the score line.

“While it can be hard to do in the midst of a nail biting game, we are going to try our best as coaches to focus on our real goals and to emphasise what we are coaching in practice,” Coach Reich stated.

This year sees Cedar enter 1 U7 team, 2 U9 teams, 2 U12 teams and at least 1 U14 team into the competition.