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Matt Cassidy
The London Whites committee decided, this season, to become involved in the BWFC Academy Sponsorship initiative for the first time. The Academy player chosen was Matt Cassidy, an exciting prospect who has already broken into the Ireland under-age set up and who is making a name for himself in the reserves and youth team at Bolton Wanderers, frequently wearing the captain's armband for both. We'll be using this page to bring you updates on Matt's progress in the reserves and keeping you up to date with exclusive news from the club.
27 August 2007: Matt Scores in Radcliffe Rout
Matt featured in the last 35 minutes of the Bank Holiday friendly against Radcliffe Boro today and got on the scoresheet which will surely do his chances at the club no harm at all.
Other scorers in the comprehensive 4-0 victory included Harsanyi, Obadeyi and the returning Ricky Gardner, the latter of whom had a ball tormenting Manchester City in the first half of Wednesday's Reserve League game at Leyland and can surely not be far from a return to first team action.
I'm hoping to catch up with Matt this week to find out his aspirations for the coming season so stay tuned!
6 July 2007: His Number's Up!
Matt took one step closer to the first team today as it was announced he will wear the No.36 shirt for the coming season.
Well done Matt!
1 July 2007: Back to Work
Matt reported back for pre-season training just over a week ago and is currently in Austria with the first team for an intensive regime designed to bring each player to their optimum fitness for the approaching campaign of friendlies and the season ahead.
It was a successful season even by Matt's high standards. Not only did he play a large part in the title-winning reserve team, the celebrations of which he missed as he was on international duty with the Ireland Under 19 squad; but he rounded off the season by being voted Players' Player of the Season within his age group.
Sadly, the reserves were unable to clinch the nationwide title, being unable to overcome their southern counterparts, Reading, on the latter's home ground, the Madejski Stadium. A number of London Whites were in attendance to show their support and returned with glowing reports of Matt's performance in the game - a first time for many to see him in action.
The Reserves will play their first competitive match as they contest the final of the Lancashire Senior Cup against local rivals Blackburn Rovers at the County Ground in Leyland on 31st July.
The lads reached the final through a hard fought semi final against an Accrington Town side featuring several first teamers. Going 1-0 down, the all-academy side showed typical resilience to equalise late in the game through a timely header by Mark Ellis on a strangely uneven pitch at Clitheroe FC. Nerves of steel and cool heads were in abundance during the penalty shootout in front of a hostile Accrington Town crowd but the boys emerged victorious.
1 May 2007: Mixed week for Matt
Matt travelled to Prague with the Irish Under 19s last week.
The trip was the final chance to impress manager Sean McCaffrey in
advance of the elite stage of the European Championship Qualifiers
which takes place in Dublin 14-19th May.
Matt certainly had the opportunity to show the manager what he could
do in the double friendly against the Czech Republic last week as he
played for the full 90 mins in the heavy 4-1 defeat on Tuesday and
then was amongst those to make things right with a victory, as he
played the first half in the 2-1 rematch on Thursday.
Back home on Tuesday, the reserves were having a far better time. The
team who, with the exception of Ali Al Habsi, all form part of the
BWFC Under 19s emerged victorious against Newcastle United and, by
virtue of a defeat to Manchester City elsewhere in the league, were
crowned Champions of the Barclays Premiership Reserve League North.
Despite the pouring rain, the lads celebrated their title on the pitch
after news came through.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for the reserves, who last year
failed to set the league alight. Our own Matt has featured heavily
all season, forging a formidable central midfield partnership with Rob
Sissons.
The season is not yet over as the team still feature in the Manchester
and Lancashire Senior Cup Competitions and play a League Final against
Reading (the champions of the Barclays Premiership Reserve League
South) at the Madejski Stadium on the evening of Friday 11 May. All
London Whites are, of course, welcome and more details will follow.
Matt will leave after the game to join up with the Ireland squad after
Sean McCaffrey confirmed he will figure in the Euro Qualifiers.
19 April 2007: Matt's International Adventure Continues
Matt's intensive quandrangle friendly tournament in Portugal earlier
in the month looked to have done him no harm at all as he played an
impressive part in the Reserve team's 2-1 victory over Everton at
Leyland last night (see match report).
Matt showed no signs of what has been a heavy season, looking tanned
and healthy as he came off the bench at half time to put in a
typically busy and intelligent performance.
However, there's no time to rest as Matt has been called up again to
the Republic of Ireland Under 19 squad to travel to Prague on Saturday
to hopefully cement his place in the starting line up for the Second
Stage Qualifiers due to take place in Dublin on May 14th - 19th. With
two games against the Czech Republic on Tuesday and Thursday, Matt
potentially has two chances to impress Manager Sean McCaffrey.
Matt's selection means he will miss the final Reserve game of the
season on Tuesday against Newcastle United. He will be hoping his
team mates, with whom he has done so well all season, can secure a
league winning finish and end the season on a six game winning run,
although with Manchester City nipping at their heels and with a game
in hand, a lot of luck will be needed.
Come the end of May, Matt will take to the skies again - this time for
a well deserved break with friends!
19 April 2007: Reserves Go Top of the League
Bolton Wanderers 2 - 1 Everton Football Club
BWFC reserves last night went to the top of the Barclays Premiership
Reserve League North with a gritty and hard fought win against their
Everton counterparts.
Despite facing a team that included Idan Tal, David Thompson, Vaz Te,
Stelios and Andranik, the Everton side showed they meant business,
scoring within the first couple of minutes when an effective pull back
from promising Ireland Under 19 player Aiden Downes found Nuno Valente
who, in turn, found the back of the net.
The Whites gradually began to build the pressure as they sought to
retain their winning streak and finish the season strongly with
Thompson, Vaz Te and Zoltan Harsanyi going close and keeper John Ruddy
making a series of important saves for the visitors.
Everton remained a threat and a vital save by Al Habsi to deny Stephen
Connor kept the three points within reach at half time.
At the break, Andranik, who had been as workmanlike and tenacious as
we have come to expect, made way for Matt Cassidy who immediately got
busy to maintain the upper hand and try to level the score.
The equaliser came following a beautiful series of passes involving
Scott Jamieson, who gave a stand out performance, Thompson and
Stelios, culminating in a perfectly judged finish from Idan Tal
against his former club.
Once level, Everton were on the back foot and their chances were few
and far between as Bolton sought to get the winner. With the
introduction of Rob Sissons in place of Thompson, the central midfield
partnership with Cassidy, which has been so effective all season, was
reinstated and the team further able to push on.
Bolton found themselves through and clear on several occasions but
their efforts were scuppered by the increasingly ludicrous offside
decisions by a linesman having a seriously bad day at the office. As
the crowd of almost 300 grew increasingly frustrated, Harsanyi broke
through and as Ruddy parried his shot it fell kindly to Stelios who
saw it home.
Harsanyi came close again in the dying minutes but was denied by an
important intervention by Darren Dennehy and a series of Bolton
corners were unable to put clear daylight between the sides.
All in all, a very positive game with the only downside being Vaz Te
limping off with twenty minutes of the game remaining and his
replacement Jaroslaw Fojut also looking like he took a slight knock in
the closing stages.
10 April 2007: Matt Joins Up With Ireland Squad for Friendly Tournament in Portugal
It has been a busy week for Matt. Last Monday he joined up with the
Ireland U19 squad to travel to Portugal for a mini tournament of
friendlies to prepare for the European Championships qualifiers in
May.
In a hard fought 1-1 draw with Germany on Wednesday, Matt was part of
the starting eleven who were unfortunate to concede four minutes from
time. Matt then played for the last 20 minutes the following day in
an unlucky 1-0 defeat to Portugal which saw both Treacy and Robert
Bayly go close in the second half. The team then played Ukraine on
Saturday morning but a match report and result has yet to surface for
the game.
After some good displays, Matt has to be in with a great chance to
figure in the second stage Euro Qualifiers where the team face
Germany, Bulgaria and Hungary where only the victor from that group
goes through to the finals in Austria in July.
U19 Manager Sean McCaffrey was happy with the team's performances,
saying "Our focus is on the UEFA Elite qualifiers next month and in
that context, plenty of lads have done well enough in the two games so
far to be knocking on the door for inclusion in the squad."
Matt is now back in the UK and, all being well, should join up with
the reserves for their clash with Manchester City this evening.
20 March 2007: Great news! Matt has just passed his driving test and is delighted. He's looking forward to tomorrow's reserve fixture against Wigan and hoping for a win to round off a good week.
15 March 2007: Cassidy Features in Classy Reserves Victory
11 March 2007: Matt Cassidy Interview by Luci O'Brien
See all the Academy player profiles on official BWFC site.
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