In possibly the worst conditions I've seen for years, with a wind chill factor seemingly below zero, and with several players ill or suffering from troublesome knocks, we were up against a Corby Warriors side that liked to score freely and were very assured in how the game would go. We were aware of their philosophy of direct, physical football, and had worked on a plan to counter it.
As the game started at a brisk pace, it seemed like all that planning had gone astray as we lost possession in seconds, and our back four of Matt, Josh, Harry C and James were caught out as Sam was called into action immediately. Within another minute, the conditions has negated our warm-up, and we were caught cold as the five-forward attack of Corby slotted neatly past an exposed Sam. However, this seemed to be the wake up call and we needed, and our captain of the day, Marcus decided to lead by example and pulled the midfield much closer and tighter, and the balls began to be stroked between Alexander and Tom in quick succession, as they frustrated Corby for a period of time. Then, out of a network of possession between all our midfield, ended with a quick battle for the ball, which Thomas J won, and his light turn bought him the space he needed for the equalizer. This stunned Corby and as they drove to regain the game, Liam, Thomas, Tom and Alex were guided by Marcus' leading runs to make chance after chance. The few times that Corby got the ball, Harry C and Matt seemed to have the beatings of anybody today. Josh and James collected the ball from defence and laid it onto the wings, which caused a few physical tackles from Corby, one of which resulted in a free kick just outside fo the penalty area. Lucaas' shot bypassed the wall, sailed over the keeper and straight into the top corner. Textbook stuff. Corby heads then seemed to rally as their coach drove them on from the sidelines. They hit us very hard in midfield and tried to drive the ball through us-literally. One challenge saw that an exhausted and shivering Alexander had to be substituted and Liam went up front as Harry took to the wing. We started to play with much more cohesion and Harry ensured the ball stayed in their half. We drove toward them with a new vigour which resulted in Marcus calmly taking the ball around a defender, and then the goalkeeper, to confidently slot home our third. Harry now was suffering and Matt replaced him on the wing, as Luke took his place in defence. We were now coasting 3-1 as the whistle went for half-time.
We knew that Corby would drive at us in the second-half-they were rarely beaten at home, and they did not like to lose, ever. Gold did weather the initial storm, but could not drive the ball forward as easily as the first half. The ball stayed in the centre circle for quite a while and both midfields battled well. However, Corby had more fresh legs they could call on, and these players began to get the ball past us much too easily as our back line seemed to stray forward again. Only Sam's safe hands kept us ahead. The pressure continued as more of our lads took hard knocks in the challenges on this awfully bitter day. Then, as tired legs came in, our own defenders tried to stop a skidding ball and ended deflecting it into our own net. 3-2, and now Corby brought more fresh legs on to bolster their chances. It seemed as though they had 8 players in our penalty area-and they did.
A change of tactics was needed, Lucaas dropped back to right back as James had a rest, and Jack came on to protect the defence. It meant sacrificing an attacker to bolster the defence (never a popular move), but we needed to even things up. Within minutes, Matt had yet another surging run, but their desperate (and exposed) defender managed to take Matt's knee out in a crunching challenge missed by the referee, and James' rest was short-lived. Jack saw the ball up the field, only for it to reach no-one as we were holding down the hatches at the back. Our nerves were getting frayed as their appeared to be a time-dilation field around the referee's watch as extra time seemed to go into double-figures. They had shot after shot and we even had a goal disallowed (so did they), but we held on until the whistle finally came.
`A great match to watch in awful weather-the lads showed that the Gold spirit has matured in our new players as well-we shocked a good Corby team-on their own ground. A fantastic performance by every player. You played as a team and won as a team-I'm very proud of you.
Man of the Match: Harry Clark. Regaining his form on a day like was a real achievement-very sturdy and passionate performance. Well done!
My thanks, as always, to the parents and friends, our sponsors, our hosts, Corby Warriors (very sporting coach), Arden for running the line, and James for his help-we couldn't do it without you.
Well done Gold-you made a horrible day just that bit brighter and warmer!
