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Home/Training Drills/Finishing Drills/Third Man Through the Gate
FinishingIntermediate

Third Man Through the Gate

Train the third man run onto a through ball, and the pass that finds it. The runner has to set off before the release, and the passer has to weight a twelve to fifteen metre ball through a six metre gap into space rather than to feet.

Create your own drill
Live animationFIN
Duration
14 min
Total drill time
Players
7
Recommended
Pitch
Full Pitch
Setup space
Level
Intermediate
Skill required
Intensity
High
Physical demand
Age band
U13-U14
Any format

Setup & instructions

Set two mannequins about 6m apart at the edge of the box as a gate, with station markers around them and a full goal and keeper. Four players work each sequence. The first pass goes forward, the receiver lays it back first time, and the third player releases a runner through the gate to finish. The runner starts as the lay-off is played. Run several balls so a new sequence starts as the last shot goes in, and rotate every player through the running role.

Setup time: 2 min

Tactical breakdown

A give-and-go is easy to time because the runner is the passer. He plays the ball, he knows exactly when it is coming back, and his run is triggered by his own action. Useful, but it is the simplest version of the problem.

The third man pattern removes that. The player who finishes here had nothing to do with the first two passes. His run has to be triggered by watching somebody else's exchange and predicting when the release will come, which is a genuinely different cognitive task and a much closer match to what happens in a game. Almost nobody in a real attack is running onto their own pass.

The gate does the technical work. Six metres between two mannequins is enough to play through and tight enough that a hit-and-hope ball will strike one of them. The passer cannot simply drive it forward; he has to look, place it, and weight it so the runner meets it without checking. Coaches sometimes widen the gate when the drill gets messy, which removes precisely the constraint that was making it valuable.

The fault to watch for is the runner setting off when he sees the through ball. By then it is too late: he arrives behind it, has to stretch, and the finish becomes a poke rather than a strike. The correct trigger is the lay-off, one pass earlier. Getting players to move on a pass that is not aimed at them, and is not even going forward, is the whole difficulty and the whole point.

How to run this drill

  1. Run on the lay-off, not the through ball. By the time you see the release it is already too late. The backwards pass is your trigger, which feels wrong and is exactly what has to become automatic.
  2. Lay it back first time. A touch to control the lay-off stalls the whole sequence, and the runner who set off correctly is now offside or standing still waiting.
  3. Place the through ball, do not hit it. Six metres between mannequins rewards accuracy and punishes power. A driven ball either hits a mannequin or runs through to the keeper.
  4. Pass into the space, never to feet. The runner is at full speed. A ball to his feet makes him stop and turn, which wastes the run and hands the recovering defender the time he needs.
  5. Take it across the gate. Running straight through the middle of the gap puts you in line with the keeper. Angling across it opens the goal and makes the finish a simpler one.
  6. Finish early. The keeper starts closing the instant the ball goes through the gate. An extra touch to set yourself is an extra metre of goal he has taken away.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • The runner starts on the lay-off, not on the through ball
  • Lay it back first time and into the passer's stride
  • Play the through ball into the space beyond the gate, never to feet
  • Weight it so the runner does not have to break stride to reach it
  • Runner takes the ball across the gate, not straight down the middle of it
  • Finish early: the keeper is closing from the moment the ball goes through

Common mistakes

  • The runner waiting to see the through ball before moving, and arriving late
  • Lay-off taken with a touch, which stalls the run
  • Through ball played to feet, so the runner has to stop and turn
  • Hitting the through ball hard rather than placing it, so it runs to the keeper

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • Narrow the gate to four metres so the through ball has to be exact
  • First-time finish only
  • Add a recovering defender who starts on the gate and chases

Regressions

  • Widen the gate and slow the sequence while the timing is learned
  • Let the runner take a touch before finishing
  • Walk the three passes so everyone understands who runs and when
Equipment
Mannequins×2
Markers×4
Tactical principles
third man run drillthrough ball finishing drillthird man run patternfinishing drill footballtiming runs drilllay off and release drillu13 finishing drillcombination play drillrunning in behind drillmannequin gate drill
Audience
U13-U14

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