---
title: "2v2 Recovery Run"
description: "Two attackers take on two defenders, and after every attack the defenders run round a cone while the attackers go again at once: score in the seconds before they are back, or build it once they are."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/recovery-run-2v2
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# 2v2 Recovery Run

> Two attackers take on two defenders, and after every attack the defenders run round a cone while the attackers go again at once: score in the seconds before they are back, or build it once they are.

U7 to U11 · 4 to 4 players · 15 × 20 m · 12 min

![Diagram of 2v2 Recovery Run](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/recovery-run-2v2)

## How to play

1. Mark a pitch 15 metres wide and 20 long with a 4 metre zone at each end and a mini goal on each end line. Put a cone 3 metres outside each side line, level with halfway, and a pile of balls beside the attackers' zone.
2. The two defenders stand on their own end line, the two attackers in their zone at the other end. A defender passes to the attackers, and from that moment the defenders can press.
3. The attackers may not shoot from inside their own zone. If the defenders win the ball, they can score in the goal at the attackers' end.
4. Whenever an attack ends, with a goal or the ball out, each defender runs round a cone and back onto the pitch. Meanwhile the attackers grab a new ball from the pile and attack again straight away.
5. Attack for 90 seconds, then swap roles, two turns each. With 8 or more players, run two or three pitches side by side.

## The decision it trains

The attackers' problem changes every few seconds. Straight after a restart the defenders are still on their way round the cones, so it is two against nobody, or two against one: shoot early, from the first good chance, before the second defender is back. Once both are back it is a real 2v2, and the chance has to be made: a pass to drag a defender across, a dribble to open the angle, then the finish. So the attackers count before they choose: how many defenders are back, and from which side are they coming? The returning defenders choose too. The first one back goes to protect the goal, not to chase the ball, and the second presses only once there is cover behind.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** if the attackers hardly score, move the cones 2 metres further out, so the defenders are away for longer.
- **Too easy:** bring the cones in, or make the pitch 25 metres long, so the attackers need a pass or two before the shot.
- **First time:** a goal scored with the first touch counts 2, so the attackers weigh a controlling touch against a quick finish.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "While the defenders were running round the cones, how quickly did you shoot?"
- "How did you know how many defenders were back?"
- "Defenders: when you came back on, did you go to the ball or to the goal, and why?"

## Where it comes from

The FA documents it in its England Football Learning sessions as pitch two of the "Finishing carousel" in "Finishing session: techniques to score" (2026), the third week of a receiving and finishing programme for 7 to 11 year olds. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom)
- Irish FA (Northern Ireland) (United Kingdom)
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany)
- FIFA Training Centre (International)

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