We were again blessed with a perfect autumn morning for football - bright,clear & crisp. Again the pitch had recovered well from lots of heavy rain in the week & was in great condition.
It was always going to be a colourful affair on the pitch, with Shiptonthorpe's green & yellow strip just as bright as our blue & yellow stripes. I noticed a couple of people in the crowd wearing sunglasses & it probably wasn't just to protect them from the glare of the early morning sun!
At it was Remembrance Sunday, before kick-off the players & crowd held a minutes silence. Then it was time for the off!!
Match 1
JoshC was captain for the first half & did a great job organising his team. However Shiptonthorpe were lively opposition, with players who were good in possession & quickly put us under pressure.
After a few attempts at both ends of the field, Shiptonthorpe were rewarded with a scrambled goal when they broke through our defence. Undaunted, we came off at half-time determined to equalise in the second half.
In the second half, Ewan took over the captaincy & controlled the team from the heart of the defence. Determined to get on equal terms, Ewan led by example & pushed up into Shiptonthorpe's penalty area at the right time & was rewarded by scoring our first goal. The opportunity had been created after some lovely team play including Harry, Taylor, Kieran & William.
However, Shiptonthorpe came back at us & managed to score what proved to be the decisive goal. Their attackers for once outnumbered our defenders & despite several great saves from Benson, they managed to force the ball home.
In what is proving to be the story of our season, we were unlucky not to score again after a host of great chances, to leave the final score 2-1 to Shiptonthorpe.
Match 2
Although we'd lost the first match, we were convinced that the opposition would tire in the second match if we continued playing the way we'd started. As many of the best captains in football are goalkeepers, Benson was in charge for this half & he made sure the defence was tighter than in the first match.
It seemed that virtually all the match was being played in the Shiptonthorpe half & we had plenty of opportunities in front of goal. Eventually we took the lead with a well taken goal by Ben, our top scorer, who tucked the ball into the corner of the net.
Shiptonthorpe had several dangerous breakaways despite being penned in their own half, but thanks to an accomplished display of defending by Joel & JoshL, they didn't get a clear shot on goal.
The second half was very much a repeat of the first, with lots of shots from our side & a well organised defence (led by our captain Dylan) which prevented the opposition from scoring. Although we couldn't add to our score, we held on for a much deserved 1-0 win.
Unfortunately the opposition needed to leave so it wasn't possible to have a penalty competition.
When it came to selecting the "Man of the Match" we decided it ought to go to the player who had been best at communicating with & organising his team mates. The boys unanimously decided that Ben deserved to be "Man of the Match" on that basis. He did a great job at encouraging his team mates & leading by example. (He was almost as loud as his Mum!)
JoshC's Dad (or "Foghorn" to his friends) felt he deserved the award because he does the most shouting. In the absence of a "Noisiest Spectator" award, we put him in goal & let the boys take shots at him - let's see if that quietens him down next week! :-)
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