Sunday 13th March vs Tickton Sharks

Despite leaden skies overhead, our pitch was in as good condition as its been this year & it was another good morning for a bit of footie. The Tickton manager had forewarned me that they may be short of players (in which case I'd offered to loan them some players), but they turned up with seven players & decided to play on.

Match 1

We started at a high tempo & from early on rediscovered the passing moves that had deserted us last week. Taylor & JoshL formed a formidable defensive partnership, which allowed our midfield & attack to put early pressure on the opposition. Our attacks were rewarded by an early goal from JoshC, who later in the half was unlucky not to double the lead when he fired a spot-kick wide of the post.

Into the second-half our confidence grew & we quickly went 2-0 with a goal from Ben. Although Benson wasn't troubled often in goal, whenever he was called on his handling was confident & his kicking was decisive. By now we were continually threatening the opposition goal & went further ahead following a fine strike by Dylan. We could easily have scored several more goals through William & Ewan but were thwarted by some outstanding goalkeeping by the Tickton keeper.

Peter showed that he has quickly settled into the team by putting in a great display in midfield.

Not long before the end, harry scored after a fine run from his own half, out-sprinting the opposition defenders & stroking the ball into the net. Final score was 4-0.

Match 2

Before the start of the second match the Tickton manager mentioned that one his players had pulled his groin & asked to borrow a player. Just after we'd squeezed Harry into one of their tops (which was several sizes too small), Tickton decided to put the injured player in goal & so carried on with their original squad of seven. However, it became evident that the effort of playing four consecutive halves might take its toll.

Boosted by the result in the first match we were pretty much continually in the opposition half. Everyone was playing well but there's no doubt that the first half belonged to Joel who scored the first hat-trick for our team. He was well supported by Benson & Kieran who was playing on despite having pulled up with an injury in the first game.

Into the second half & the goalfest continued as the opposition tired. JoshC scored a couple, followed by one for Dylan & then JoshC completed his own hat-trick for this half. This was probably our best match all season & we were unlucky the final score wasn't more, but again the substitute goalkeeper played out of his skin. However, we were delighted to finish 7-0 winners.

Although there were a lot of tired legs on both sides, there was just enough energy left to have a closely fought penalty competition.

Recognising that hat-tricks are a rarity & should be celebrated, we decided to award the Man of the Match to both Joel & JoshC who both deserved the honour.