By Jason
IT was a day of Firsts as the Consett Warriors youth football team started their new season.
Dylan led the team for the first time as official captain and there were debut starts for Ryan, Karam, and George. It was also the first outing in our sharp new blue kit.
We kicked off the season with a local derby against fellow Consett side, Anarchy. The message before the game was simple and consistent with pre-season: Stop being too nice. Show aggression (the right kind), bravery, and freedom—like you do in training. But within 5 minutes, we were behind.
We started slowly and were punished for not closing down quickly enough. The lads could tell I wasn’t exactly thrilled. Neither was Gabriel. 0–1. Today Gabriel showed what it means to be a Warrior as he played today not being even close to 100% fit.
Even though it was a fairly quiet day for Gabriel, when needed he was always there. Thankfully, that was the wake-up call. Energy levels rose, and we started to play our football. Then came the spark, Zach surged forward and squared it to Olly HN who slotted home with confidence. New boots, new season, first Warrior goal for the 2025/26 season. 1-1
Moments later, Zach pounced on a mistake, drove through, and finished with class. 2–1. The tide was turning. The Warriors were now on a mission. Play was picking up and confidence was building. Our defensive line of Cassius, George, Olly HL, Jacob and Lewis was becoming stronger and stronger.
Our full backs, Cassius, Jacob and Lewis always looking to play forward with progressive play. George has slotted into the heart of our defence fantastically and shows a great desire to keep improving.
Approx half way through the first half the Warriors showed how well they can link up and transition their play. The ball was won in midfield by Bradley who played a short pass to Dylan who worked the ball to the right. He found Olly HN who pushed forward playing a ball between the lines for Oliver to run onto. Oliver dribbled forward and squared the ball left to Zach who was through on goal and made no mistake, extending the Warriors lead. Fantastic team goal. 3-1
As the game went on our midfield kept growing with impressive play. Elliott, Olly HN, Dylan, Oliver and Bradley were incredible through the middle and down the wings. Their play with a sheer determination was amazing. The Warriors were starting to control the midfield and after more good play Elliott was able to pump a ball forward for Zach to run onto. Zach took it past the keeper, slotting it home as cool as you like. What a way to seal his hat-trick. 4-1.
The Warriors had to deal with great determination from our opponents. The game as a derby should be, was physical but fair from both sides. Players were respectful of each other and supporters showed their class in applauding all the players of both sides. Shortly after Zach’s attacking instinct kicked into play and he pressed the opponent back. He stole possession, raced towards goal and shot it to the side of the keeper out of his reach. Great individual goal. 5-1
Just before half time, another Warrior attack led to a corner. Elliott delivered a great corner into the box which was met by Cassius who did a brilliant flick on towards the back post which was met by Olly HN 6-1
Half time: 6-1. Half time message My half time message was to keep up the intensity and play more ruthlessly. We were able to bring on our game changers and give some of the starting boys a rest.
Second half the game changers picked up from their team mates fantastically well. Shortly after the restart, Zach made a darting run forward and played a pass with his left (he made sure I knew that) towards the back post. Jack was like a 100m runner and sprinted to meet the ball and blast it home. 7-1
It wasn’t long after that, that Jack returned the favour and played through Zach whose shot was saved but then bounced back to him and he made no mistake second time round finishing past the keeper. 8-1.
There was still 24 minutes left to play and our energy levels were still encouraging. Not just that but our bravery in and out of possession was fantastic. Ryan took a clattering but got straight back up, shook it off and was again straight back into his tackles. We were starting to control the game and our boys were continuing to link up really well. We were able to move people about allowing them to experience other positions and build their confidence.
A short while later Zach again picked up on a loose ball and drove forward. With a high defensive line he was able to stretch his legs pick up his speed and drive towards goal. He again cool as you like went around the keeper to complete a double hat-trick. 9-1.
The ruthlessness was starting to show. Dylan who covered every inch of grass in the game played a lovely ball past the defenders and you don’t need to ask Zach twice to run onto balls like that. He fired it home with a great finish. 10-1.
As we were seeing the game out, Teddy made a great tackle on the middle of midfield and then played a little ball over the top for Zach to pick up and yes you guessed it. He shot it home for his 8th of the game. 11-1.
Full time was approaching but the Warriors were not finished. Some great play from Teddy and Jack down the right gave us one last attack. The ball was played to Zach who squared it to Karam who finished with a fantastic right foot finish in the top right hand corner. 12-1
First Match Report of the season: Consett Warriors v Consett Anarchy Final Score: Warriors 12 – 1 Anarchy
Goals: Zach x8 Olly HNx2 Jack x1 Karam x1 Assists: Zach x3, Oliver x1 Elliott x1 Cassius x1 Jack x1 Teddy x1
Man of the Match: Zach.
