NTFC U11 Reds hosted Denbury this morning on a coach road pitch resembling the Somme. Without Liam and Nathan at the back, we had to start with a re-jigged lineup of Alfie dropping back into goal to allow Dan to go into the defence with Callum, Sam and Matt took the middle of the field and Jake and Joe went up front and Tim warmed the bench as he comes back from a spell out.Town started superbly and within the first ten minutes could have been 4-0 up. Both Joe and Jake having shots saved, and putting the ball narrowly wide the Denbury posts.Matt and Sam were working hard in the middle cutting down the attacks and playing the ball forward to the strikers almost at will.When Denbury did attack, Callum and Dan were immense at the back to deny any clearcut chances. Jake picked up the ball on the halfway line and started one of his trademark runs directly at the Denbury goal, beating 3 players and side footing the ball past the keeper who had so far stopped everything coming his way, 1-0! The Town continued to dominate the game through to haftime without scoring again. We started the second half with the same lineup as we started the first and it wasn't long before the Town's skillful play started causing more problems for the Denbury back line. A free kick was awarded just out side the Denbury box, Jake placed the ball and fooled all the defenders as they expected the ball to go over the wall, instead it was hit low and into the bottom corner of the goal, 2-0. Denbury began a spell of prolonged pressure, with 3 corners on the bounce, and only Callum and Dan's blocks, tackles and clearences kept Alfie untroubled. Jake came off after running his socks off, and Tim came on in the middle with Sam pushing up front with Joe. Sam ran the ball in from the wing, played it towards the penalty spot to find an unmarked Matt, who bulged the back of the net, 3-0!. The game finished 3-0, with one of the Red's best performances of the season. EVERY player was deserving of the man of the match award, Alfie was reasonably untroubled in the goal, but his kicking was superb and when he was called into action, coped admirably on a terrible pitch. Dan was great coming out of goal to fill in in defence and always looked comfortable on, and chasing the ball. Callum was immense with superbly timed tackles, great forward runs and some great throws. Matt is looking stronger by the game and had arguably his best game for the Town, both in attack and defence. Sam was awesome, with his running on and off the ball devastating the Denbury defence. Joe was superb upfront, and was really unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet  after seeing his shots saved or narrowly wide. Jake was brilliant upfront and the Denbury defence looked terrified everytime he picked up the ball and topped his performance with his two goals. Tim looked great when he came on in the second half and is rapidly getting back to his best after some time out of the squad. The man of the match went to Callum, who did everthing and more asked of him in defence, but as said, it could have gone to the whole team. Well done boys, some momentum before next weeks return game at Denbury.