Affinity welcomed Josh P back in goal for the day and Chris Clarke to fill the big gap left with Gilly away. ARYPT 1 were bolstered with the signing of last year's league golden boot winner Matt Holcroft from the disbanded Holy Family (as if they needed him!)
The pre-match team talk mentioned about the need to be on our toes as ARYPT have been known to punish us from outside the area in the past and within the first five minutes a powerful effort from the aforementioned golden boot winner sailed over Josh into the top left of the goal.
Affinity's response was pleasing with plenty of endeavour on both flanks ensuring that ARYPT knew they were in a game. Chris L had two mazy runs but ended with shots wide of the mark. James and Andy put some pressure on ARYPT's left side as the game settled down. Affinity got themselves level about 15 minutes in as James forced the ball over the line following a corner from Chris L on the left.
ARYPT's movement up front gave Mark and Wally plenty to think about and Sean and Chris C were kept on their toes the whole of the first half. Chris C was dominant with balls played in the air winning almost every header. The ball on the ground was harder to control and ARYPT scored two quick goals one from the left and one from the right to make the game an uphill challenge for Affinity.
Further trouble hit Affinity with Andy having to leave the field with a reoccurrence of the knee injury that had kept him out at the end of last season. Lee replaced him. A further blow hit Affinity just before half time with Chris C taking a knee to the side of his face and with a closing eye and thumping headache he had to come off at half time. This was a particular blow as he had been a rock at the centre of the defence.
Gurps replaced Chris with Ian dropping into defence. The second half settled into a more even affair with Affinity holding more possession than they had in the first half. Wally stayed tight to his man on the right and the frustration this caused seemed to spread throughout the ARYPT team. Josh camped on the edge of his area left it on a number of occasions to head away balls over the top that had he left them might have fallen to an approaching striker.
Lee and Fra were keeping the ARYPT defence honest with Gurps, Mike, Chris L and James seeing more of the ball and threading through balls that were close to providing scoring opportunities but not quite close enough. Fra had a more than decent half chance to get Affinity back in the contest but pulled his shot wide of the right upright.
With the game becoming more stretched in the last 15 minutes ARYPT effectively ended the game as a contest with two further goals both tidy finishes from their right as strikers dinked the ball over Josh as he tried to narrow the angle on both occasions. Affinity continued to battle and move forward and were justly rewarded in the last couple of minutes with a goal for Chris L as he moved in from the left and struck a shot from just outside the area that took a small deflection into the left corner of the net.
Plenty to work on again but pleasing effort from the collective performance. Man of the match goes to Wally for his second half performance where the ARYPT captain was kept in his pocket and had to move infield and to the left to gain any ground. Special mention also to Chris C whose first half performance was assured and confidence boosting to those around him.
