Dream trip for Bree boys
MSB WOOLTON SOCIEDAD 1, BREE UNITED 6: Teams from Liverpool do not often ship six goals at home, but that was exactly what happened when Bree United’s Under-13 side visited Merseyside recently.
The friendly match between Bree and MSB Woolton Sociedad formed the centre-piece of a weekend of soccer action for the away side who also took in the Manchester derby and visited the home grounds of a number of FA Premier League teams.
Drawing inspiration from a training session at the Bolton Wanderers Academy on the previous day, the Bree lads played a brand of pass and move football that left their Merseyside hosts chasing ghosts in the first-half.
United took advantage of their dominance both in terms of possession and territory in the opening period to rack up four goals without reply.
With darting runs from strikers Adam Cairney and Travis McCauley opening up huge gaps in the Sociedad defence, midfielder Ben Asple took full advantage to bury two first-half opportunities.
At the opposite end of the pitch the Bree defence, superbly marshalled by Sam Twomey and captain Ryan McGlynn, proved a tough nut to crack during the opening exchanges.
As the first-half wore on the probing passes of midfielders Odhran Keogh and Thomas Lambert, and the tireless running of Asple and inside-forward Mark Dawson, led to further goalscoring opportunities for the Wexford side.
Dawson scored with a powerful strike from just inside the penalty area, with man of the match Cairney adding a fourth when he pounced on a rebound to score from close range.
Sociedad emerged after the break with greater resolve and began to put more pressure on the Bree defence with a series of long balls and crosses from the wings.
Defenders Twomey, McGlynn, Conor O’Brien and Conor Rogers won a series of aerial duels to keep the English side at bay initially.
As the game wore on, however, goalkeeper Cian McCormack was called into action on a number of occasions, twice saving well with his feet.
It was backs-to-the-wall stuff now and substitutes Aaron O’Connor and Andrew Doyle were required to produce a series of great tackles to prevent McCormack from having to work even harder in goal.
Ten minutes into the second-half McCormack was beaten at last to reduce the Bree boys’ lead to three.
Any fears of a Woolton revival, however, were quelled when wingback Aaron O’Connor produced a lung-bursting 60-yard run to pull off a last-ditch tackle before driving Bree forward down the left wing.
A superb crossfield ball by Kehoe into the path of the advancing Asple led to Bree’s fifth goal, a brilliant curling strike from just outside the left corner of the penalty box.
The resulting hat-trick was Asple’s second of the season and leaves him as the front-runner in the race for the club’s golden boot.
Their dominance reasserted, Bree reverted to the controlled passing game that has been the hallmark of their best performances this season.
Centre-forward Adam Twomey marked his return to action after recovering from a broken arm with a performance full of powerful running. His curling long-range effort shaved the right-hand post and was followed minutes later by a delightful chip over the Woolton ’keeper that was cleared off the line by a covering full-back.
With captain McGlynn now pulling the strings, United continued to press as the game entered the closing stages.
Lambert, Dawson, McCauley and Kehoe continued to find space both out on the flanks and between the Sociedad midfield and defence.
It was, however, a barn-storming run by substitute centre-back Rogers that produced the final goal. Taking possession close to the centre-circle, he drove past four Sociedad defenders and into the box.
A powerful and accurate shot beat the advancing English goalkeeper and left Bree United celebrating their biggest win of 2018 to date, a 6-1 victory that will live long in the memories of all in attendance.
Thoughts now turn to the remaining domestic league fixtures when United will have a spring in their steps after their first foray into European action.
Bree hope, however, to continue the relationship with their Merseyside counterparts into the future, with an invitation for a return fixture having been offered to Sociedad.