A cold, frosty, and yet bright, morning awaited us at Desborough. The pitch was yielding but was well looked after. However, it wasn't until just before kick-off that we knew if we'd have a team to play as this virus once again decimated the squad. Nerves were frayed as even those that arrived had coughs, sniffles and wheezes, but all were determined to play and give their all.

    Desborough's goal record was far superior to ours, and they were extremely keen to play a fast attacking football against us as well. This they did, straight from the kick-off, and you could be forgiven for thinking that the ball was not being moved around for the first few minutes as it hardly left the centre circle. It was total deadlock until Marcus decided to slide the ball out wide, and we began to assert ourselves slightly. Alex received with great confidence and turned found Lucaas,  who in turn deftly found Harry, who made no mistake as he calmly collected the ball, drew it back and launched it across the goal to find the net. Desborough then almost ignored the goal and drove straight at us, overwhelming us, and it was only our makeshift defence of James Williams (making a welcome return to the squad), Owen, James B and Luke who kept us in the game. However, we had found our feet and with everyone player going forward, Liam and Alex linking up well, helping the battle in midfield, and Marcus commanding the whole midfield once more, James W did an acrobatic overhead kick which eventually found Tom leading a pack of forwards toward goal and he made no mistake with his clinical finish. 2-0, and still Desborough came at us. Within seconds we found ourselves completely pinned back, and with Ben on for Owen, we had 8 players in the box to defend a number of corners-one of which took a heroic goal-line clearance to keep us in the game. There was no let up in their midfield drives, so we began to use the wings better and created wave after wave of attacks. One of these resulted in a corner, which Lucaas dropped sweetly straight to Harry, who took his second with remarkable ease. We had another few chances but this frenetic pace could not continue, and we were glad of the half-time whistle.

    As the second half started, Owen had come on for Ben, but Desborough were in no mood to change their tactics. They drove at us like a steam train downhill, and playing tiredly up the hill did us no favours and we caught flat-footed a number of times. They missed a couple of decent chances and Sam performed his usual heroics, making some spectacular saves. His bravery made our back-line a little too confident and as they drifted forward, a counterattack found us totally exposed and they slipped a neat goal past a helpless Sam.

They could we were tiring and brought on some fresh legs. We tried to respond straight away and found that extra energy  to make the pace count once more and we pushed them right back into their own area. The passing between all of the team was superb and we looked to be in firm control. They came harder at us, and even outpaced us in places. We started to flag, and the tackles hurt a little more. Harry, Lucaas, Tom, and even Sam all fell to firm, yet fair challenges. Tom had to come off and Ben came on to play in midfield holding role-a new challenge for him. Our marking had waned somewhat and Desborough resorted to using high balls to get by us. However, James B, Luke and Marcus all used their head to win the ball and we found ourselves locked in midfield when Marcus took the ball back, switched past 2 defenders and took his time to coolly chip the goalkeeper in a real "Match of the Day" moment. Tom had come on for Ben as we shuffled the pack to play a more defensive shape to protect those now really flagging. That seemed to finally kill off Desborough, but they still played with great heart and never let up. We, however had found that Gold Spirit again and we passed very calmly and confidently, and ran the game until the whistle.

    Even working at half-strength, feeling at half-strength, playing uphill and against the wind, every single player stood up to the challenge and got us back to winning ways. The novices aquitted themselves extremely well, and James' return came at just the right time. A really commendable performance-well done everyone!

Man of the Match-a really hard decision, with at least 4 players close-but Sam wins it for his focussed command of the goal area-great decisions made at the right time.

 

A special Christmas thank you to all the parents and friends, Ian for running the line, our sponsors, our charming hosts, and especially Vaughan for his attentive reffing.