On a slightly miserable evening in the cold and rain we were set for our last friendly before the season starts. A couple of changes were made to the starting line up but were we ready...time would tell...
The whistle blew and immediately we were in control. Finlay who is getting used to a more defence role was put into left wing for this game to cover for Archie who is currently away on holiday. With Archie’s current form this would be a hard role to fill but immediately he settled in well starting the scoring with a great strike to make it 1-0 within a few minutes. Shortly after again he was given the opportunity to run at their defence and the same result ensued.... it was 2-0 within a matter of a few minutes.
It was clear at this point that there was only really one team in contention therefore the whole game plan would have to change. Rather than concentrating on scoring we tried to get the lads passing and playing better as a team but with blood in sight, the lads were struggling to listen and the goals kept coming.
Next up unfortunately for Mickleover was a deflection leading to an own on goal. This was created via constant pressure from ourselves which was great to see from our point of view although perhaps a little uncomfortable to watch as the two teams were clearly far from well matched.
Half time soon came and the score was 10-0 to us. Goal scorers at this stage were :
Finlay 2 Own goal 1 Kian 1 Shane 4 Jeevan 1 Jamie 1
The second half would soon come and go with the final result being 15-1.
The one goal to Mickleover came from a penalty. The first shot was brilliantly read by Josh with a perfect save. The referee (there manager) however decided that as they were trailing considerably asked for a re-take citing Josh moved off his line (he later told me he didn’t but he wanted his lads to score ???????). On the second attempt they did.
Adding to our tally in the second half was:
Kian 2 Shane 1 Harry 1 Isaac 1
Not the best preparation I must admit however you can only beat who’s put in front of you. A few performances worth a mention is Shane, 5 goals against any opposition takes some doing, Kian getting his first of hopefully many hattricks, Isaac his first goal and Harry was simply outstanding. So good we had to take him off for long periods as he really was destroying Mickleover in the middle of the park and we were worried we would totally demoralise them if he continued with such impressive form.
Man of the match for me however had to go to Tom. His strength and vision putting balls into dangerous positions all night long was just a joy to watch. A great addition to the team I’m sure everyone can agree with.
Anyway that’s all the prep done and it’s now over to the lads to show the league and everyone watching what they are capable of.
A great season lies ahead of that I am sure.
It’s Allenton at the weekend, our first test of the new season and one I’m sure all the lads are more than prepared and capable of getting the result we all want.
Good luck all and as I will be sat by the bar for this one sunning myself and drinking Margaritas, please someone keep me informed of what’s going on as I’ll probably be more nervous here than Brendan will be pitch side sat here waiting for the results !!
Good luck all ??????
