You could be forgiven for thinking the unseasonal weather we've had the past few days would be relected in the pitch we faced today. Sadly not, and the boggy patches would prove to be our undoing.

    We started brightly enough, driving Castle Rise back into their own half for the opening 5 minutes. However, as the ball began to get trapped in places, we sat back too far and Castle Rise drove forward at great speed. We replied in kind and Lucaas took the ball wide and crossed it to Tom, whose speculative shot took a wicked deflection from their defender to end up as an own goal. We then pretty much controlled the game, playing wide balls crossed sublimely by Alex and Marcus. It looked like we would increase our lead any minute, when they suddenly overran our midfield and sliced a shot that Sam looked to have smothered, only for the greasy ball to slip out from under him and find the goal. This was a real shock and we found ourselves rocked for a few moments as Castle Rise's confidence grew and they pinned us back for a while. Despite then driving forward, we were still caught on the break and had to rely on James Williams, James B, Luke and Harry R a little too much. 1-1 half-time.

    The second half saw a some changes with Harry C rested  after a knock, Harry R moving back to left wing, Luke moving over for Harry R,  James B in for Luke, Jack on for James B, and Thomas on for Liam. This was designed to plug the gaps that our opposition had been running through, but still a revitalized Castle Rise confidently strolled by us and tried a loose shot in the opening minutes, which took a crazy deflection off James W, and the greasy ball spun over a helpless Sam. An incredible freak goal-which I defy anyone to try and repeat! `This lifted Castle Rise completely and they then pinned us back for a good period. It took Marcus to lift the team into moving short with the ball and it became real end-to-end stuff. This eventually resulted in free kick in front of the Rise goal, which Harry R confidently lofted into the roof of the net-unstoppable. Liam then came on for Lucaas. They still drove at us unrelentlingly, and it took Jack to keep his head on to stop some very fast attacks, even though he was brought down in a hard tackle. Luke also suffered that way, and eventually James W's back proved too sore to continue, so Harry C came on for him. We were tired, bruised and confronted by a team that just kept going. Surprisingly, it was us that put the pressure on, as  we were literally queuing up to score. However, only one player kept his head, and after spending the first half on a secret mission to keep one of their players marked out of the game, Tom strode in the melee and stroked the ball confidently home. We were in front again and needed to tighten up at the back. This we did, albeit with 11 players behind the ball. We broke a few times and so nearly got another with great shots by Thomas, Marcus and Alex, but suffered another sucker-punch on the break when a Sam found himself stranded in the mud and saw a pass/shot (not sure which) quite literally bobble in the far corner. We were then under siege for the last 5 minutes, as we could only muster a couple of breaks with no support. 3-3 at the whistle.

    We fought hard, but not as well as we have done or could have done. The ground didn't help, but still a few sloppy mistakes cost us the 3 points. Some players played their hearts out yet again, and when we played together cohesively, we still looked like we could beat anybody. We didn't lose, and provided a great game for the neutrals! Next week-a clean sheet!

 

Man of the Match-again a couple of players came very close, but it has to go to Tom Mead for his "secret mission", his cool and collected play, and his great goal.

 

My thanks to all the parents and friends (especially those that persevered with the directions today), Arden for running the line, James for helping with the team, our sponsors, their manager (Dean Walsh) and his energetic team, the ref Tommy Honeyman, and all our players for making it all worthwhile.