This was a close game between two sides who both did well in their respective leagues last season. The scoreline gives a false impression of how close this game was.

Shevington were the stronger team in the first half with the front two in particular giving Euxton plenty of problems. In the main this was because they were getting good service from midfield . The Euxton midfield were not close enough to their opponents and too often the ball was coming into the front two unchallenged. George and Jack battled well against strong physical opponents but the service into them caused us unnecessary pressure. Having said that the only time Shevington came close to scoring was when a scramble in the box led to a parried save from Matty and the Shevington stikers follow up was blocked well by George on the line.

It wasn't all one sided and Euxton has spells in the Shevington half but only created one clear opportunity , Lewis being freed into the box but a shot with his left foot didn't trouble the keeper.

We sorted some things out at half time and the midfield pressed much better. As a result Euxton were on top and created good chances for Lewis (2) and Connor which we just could not convert. We had shots from Dominic , Steven and George but didn't trouble the keeper. However it has to be said that we were not passing the ball well despite the advantage of being on top. Our passing in the 2 pre season games and today has not been of the standard we have seen and worked on in training.

Just when it was beginning to look like a draw we concede a goal in the 28th minute. We telegraphed our intentions from a goal kick on the right and did not have cover in case of an interception. A low kick was duly intercepted by the Shevington winger and the resulting ball into the box was met well by a firm drive by the Shevington winger. The scenes of jubilation on the Shevington side showed how close the game had been. From our part it was a goal an Under 8 side would have been dissapointed to concede.

We then had a 2 minute delay whilst the referee consulted the rule book to ascertain how long each half should be at Under 12 football.

We seemed to switch off and when the game was restarted a challenge in midfield on Dominic resulted in an injury for him and the ball going to the Shevington forward to score.  A minute later and the Shevington forward managed to kick the ball out of Matty's hands without touching him and score.

This was a good game played between 2 evenly matched teams. Both sides worked very hard but fairly as the referee didn't give a single free kick for a foul all match. Shevington played some good football and will be challenging for honours. Euxton can do better than this.

Lessons to learn for all of us. We need to start better than we have been. We have to take our chances as we won't get as many as last year. We need to be stronger in the tackle across the pitch and we have to keep the ball the way we have in training and not fall into the trap of simply knocking it forward. There is a long way to go in the season and we know that we have plenty of improvement in us. We have to put this defeat behind us and get our season going in the next match.