THE66POW: Retford United 7 (Seven) v Gainsborough Trinity 0

Thursday 19th October 2017
Worksop Van Hire, North Midland U19 League
at Cannon Park
Retford United (6) 7
Callum Wilson 3, 25, 28, 70
Callum Amendola 5
Liam Bennett 15
Zach Casburn 21
Gainsborough Trinity (0) 0
Admission £2. Programme 20p

Unbeaten Retford United cruised past Trinity, to finish the night in second place in the table, just one point behind Sheffield United.

Incredibly the young Badgers had already racked up a six goal lead inside the first thirty minutes, in front of a good number of 'scouts' from other clubs who were in attendance tonight to check out what all of the furore surrounding this in form side was about

It is always good to catch up with the A-Licence coach, Andy McKnight, who was in the dug out,

in charge of the visiting side tonight, on crutches!

His recent hip operation has gone well it would seem and in spite of some wretched health problems over the past year or so, his enthusiasm and optimism for the game hasn't diminished in the slightest.

Having coached throughout Europe and in particular in Scandinavia, Andy has previously worked at Walsall and West Bromwich Albion, and besides his current coaching work with the Gainsborough youngsters and the Frickley Athletic first team, he also runs his own successful football academy, based at the Hallam University sports facilities at Brinsworth.

And his accent his bloody hilarious.

Der, der, der. Der, der, der... Yam yam man!
Sir Andy 'Wulfrunian' McKnight

One thing that Andy spoke about before the game, was that results aren't the be all and end all of things in Development football, which is, of course, 100% true, but that was also quite ironic given how the game itself panned out.

But a lot of other coaches could learn a lot from watching McKnight in action and listening to the way he speaks to his players throughout the ninety minutes.

Even at 7-0 nil down, he was praising both those who were making a good impact on the game and encouraging those who weren't having such a good time of things: "Put it out of your mind, get back in the zone, keep doing the right things, you've got the ability, it'll come!", "Unlucky son, great effort, keep it going, you're alright. Learn from it and move on!"

This is what the players want/need at this stage of their development, not egotistical managers who rant and rave, eff and Geoff and throw undignified tantrums, because they are more worried about how results have a bearing on their own reputations (you know who you are), than the futures of the

young players who they are ultimately responsible for.

Keep on, keeping on Mr McKnight sir.

Anyway, hold onto your seat, because this one goes straight for the jugular and explodes into life
from the off, before you've even opened your popcorn and got settled down comfortably.
The home side were almost ahead inside the opening minute, when Zach Casburn's curling shot flew just wide of the right hand upright, but it didn't take long for Retford to find the net, when Saif Adurraheem under hit a back pass and Callum Wilson raced past him to reach the ball before Harrison Crabtree and planted the ball into the bottom right hand corner from twelve yards out.
And on five minutes, Casburn delivered a slide rule diagonal ball, through visitors defence, to meet the run of Callum Amendola, who Trinity hadn't tracked and the Badgers number eleven made it 2-0 from an angle.
Initially, the Retford keeper, James Gamble, struggled with the spin on the wet ball from Brad Mears left wing corner, but recovered well and claimed it at the second attempt.
Casburn and Wilson battled their way, straight down the middle of the pitch, but as the latter looked to add to his tally, Joe Hayden got his foot in and steered the ball behind at the expense of a corner, which Casburn headed narrowly over from Louie Derosa's delivery.

Awais Tahir and Callum Jarvis were moving the ball around well, with Mears getting forward in support for Trinity, but they were struggling to make any in roads into the Retford area, despite the physical presence of Khalid Sully (or Said Khalid Sulieman as he's listed on the FA Full Time website).

Toby Rutherford dug the ball out of a congested midfield and played the ball forward to Casburn who, having spotted Crabtree off of his line, tried his look from thirty yards, but could only leave a muddy stain on those wall panels that somebody has painted black, to remind United's first team players where the goals are.

Amendola bustled his way through into the left hand side of the area, but Tahir was back helping his defence out and made a last ditch clearance, as the visitors conceded another corner, which was cleared, but just as it looked as though the Badgers attack might have been dispersed, holding midfielder Liam Bennett picked up the ball at least thirty yards from the visitors goal and crashed an unstoppable shot past Crabtree to put the hosts three goals in front after just fifteen minutes.

Things went from bad to worse foe the 'Holy Blues' when Crabtree got the ball caught up in his feet while making a routine clearance and scuffed it towards Casburn, who gratefully spanked it back past him. The Retford attackers were on fire tonight, but at times, Trinity were proving to be the architects of their own downfall too.

Markus Birkelund was fouled twenty five yards away from the Retford goal and opted to take the free kick himself, which deflected wide of the right hand upright. Trinity opted for a short corner routine, with Mears rolling the ball to Marcio Viera (who almost a year ago to the day, made his debut as a substitute for Maltby Main at Bottesford Town, on the same afternoon that I did. He came on in place of an injured team mate, while I was standing in for their club secretary John Mills, on a very temporary basis. His NCEL 'career' was very short lived, and my 'position' was never meant to be a long term appointment either) who turned sharply to his right, to make a cross, completely unchallenged, while the ball trickled harmlessly out of play to his left.

Moving swiftly on... just like Retford did, Casburn and Wilson made parallel runs deep into the opposition's half, some ten yards apart and upon reaching the edge of the area, the former rolled the ball sideways yo the latter and he had all the time in the world to pick his spot and whip the ball past Crabtree.

'Twenty five minutes in and it's already 5-0', as I was texting a score update to an enquiring friend, I had to quickly amend it to: 'Twenty eight minutes in and it's already 6-0' as Wilson tucked the ball away after Liam Bennett had delivered a great long pass through a Trinity back line, who were seemingly rooted to the spot with awestruck admiration.
Viera headed wide from Mears cross as Gainsborough threatened to make the most unlikely comeback in the entire history of Association Football, for a few brief moments.
While, in the run up to half time, Wilson and Casburn both went close to heaping even more misery on their visitors and Amendola scooped the ball over the bar from inside the six yard box from a great knock forward by Adam Sparks.
Rumour has it, that the match officials: Lee Clarke, Wayne Davenport and Phil Holmes had actually gone in ten minutes early for their interval brew (and Midget Gems), because they'd had so little to do.
HT: Badgers 6 v Holy Blues 0

Positives from a Trinity perspective?
Hmm... well, they only lost the second half by a solitary goal, when Wilson lobbed Crabtree with a dipping shot from outside the area in the seventieth minute.
To be fair the visitors gave a much better account of themselves after the break, although you would have to question just how motivated a team who are already running away with the game and six goals to the good, inside the opening half a hour, might still be.
Birkelund did rattle the upright from twenty five yards out, Mears put two corner kicks into the Retford six yard box inside the space of two minutes, with Hayden almost scoring from the first as his header was blocked, while Birkelund completely missed the ball, two yards in front of the Badgers goal from the second.

Sully was proving to be a belated nuisance to the Retford defence, as Gainsborough finally started to look like a useful side, using the whole width of the pitch well.
But Wilson's fourth (and Retford's seventh) strike, seemed to deflate the life out of the visitors once and for all, pretty much like one of those farty sounding whoopee cushions that no self respecting household ever used to be without, before we had the internet and more than two telly channels to amuse ourselves on those long winter nights... and the victorious Badgers comfortably played out the remainder of the game, with Crabtree doing well to deny Wilson his fifth goal with a great save, right at the end, as the clock ticked down.
FT: Retford United U19 7 v Gainsborough Trinity U19 0
Anyway, if you're not doing anything next Saturday, after you get home from the football n' that, Beechy's fund raising events are always a great way to spend a night out and the bar at Cannon Park is always well stocked these days.
But if you can't get along in person, you can pledge your support via @Retfordunitedfc see the price/prize list below.