An overnight deluge meant that our first pitch was out of action, so we had to hastily make the back-up pitch ready in time. We won the race, thanks to the great help of all the parents, and the pitch was passed by Weekley as ok to play.

    Weekley Rovers were above us in the table, and had won more games-a fact borne out by the confident manner they attacked us straight from the whistle. Their passing was cohesive and tight and they really had us pinned back for the first five minutes. We hardly saw their goal area at all as they pushed us deeper and deeper, and we played them onside every time. Our only attack was a run by Alex who shot at distance, but as Harry had to go forward to make sure of the ball's destination, it was ruled offside. It was nerve-wracking to watch as they shot at an exposed Sam, who had to react quickly across a damp pitch. We couldn't hold out for long-the ball was seemingly knocked out of Sam's hands by our own player, and Weekley took full advantage to go 1-0 up. This gave Weekley the confidence to go further upfield and we had to survive a very intense bombardment as they drove through the gaps in our midfield. However, Marcus shuffled the troops, with Alex playing deeper centrally, which soon resulted in Alex skipping by their defence in a counterattack and scoring a great goal from an impossible angle. Now we started to drive forward, and the result was an impasse, with both sides winning and losing the ball in midfield. Both sides were playing good passing football, but neither could get forward. Then, as the half started to close, the whole side drove forward for corner after corner. One intelligent piece of play under pressure resulted in Harry playing a short ball to Lucaas, who called for the ball, and then dropped it right at the feet of James Brackenbury, for him to open his season's scoring to send us in at half-time 2-1 up. 

    The half-time talk revolved around changing tactics and plugging the gaps. James Williams, Luke, and James B all took their lead from a determined Matt, who had then totally dominated the defence and sent wave after wave of attacks forward to Marcus and Alex, who in turn were superbly supported by a rejuvenated Harry R and Lucaas, and we finally began playing as we knew we could. Alex and Thomas J were ably fed by a battling Tom Mead, and we started to pepper their goal. Harry R took the ball on the outside and worked his way in to score a cracker of a goal. This led to an increase of pace, and no matter how ably Weekley fought back in some great tackling, we were now playing a different game. This suited Lucaas, who sped up the right wing and lashed in an unstoppable goal. With more of the play going forward and all attacks being repelled, Liam came on for Thomas, and his intervention held the midfield tight and Lucaas was fed another ball to lash in a carbon copy of his first goal. Harry C and Jack came on for both James', and we sealed the door completely on our defence-playing simple, long balls direct to the feet-a real pleasure to watch. Every ball was stopped dead or played out. Harry R then sprung into action, and with plenty of time on the ball, he confidently strode in and placed his second goal. Marcus marshalled the team into winning every ball, which we did, and it was a race to see who would score their hat-trick and both Harry R and Lucaas worked their magic, but their goalkeeper pulled off some terrific saves-even from one effort from Lucaas that looked as though it was a certainty  The final whistle blew at 6-1.

    A fantastic fightback against a very good team, who played some very keen football. Another great sporting performance. What was really pleasing about this game was that we found our weak areas, plugged them, and then used our own initiative on the pitch. Every single player on the pitch today played for each other, and justly won the rewards. Well done! It was a pleasure to watch.

 

    Man of the Match: Chosen by Arden and James-Lucaas, for his excellent second-half display and attitude. Special mentions must go to Marcus, Matt, Harry R and Alex as well.

 

Thanks especially to the parents, siblings and friends for their sterling help, Arden for reffing, James for running the line, Roger Salvi of Weekley for his help, Weekley Rovers for a great game, Raunds Manor, our sponsors and the team!