On a blustery day the Tigers knew they had to work hard to compete against a much fancied Eagles team.
The Eagles pressed hard early going close a couple of times. However Tigers caught them on the break, Shades played Ben through who drove into the box to blast a hard rising shot into the Eagles net.
The Eagles continued make chances and through a combination of good luck, good keeping from Charlotte and some timely defensive interceptions by Mark and Lol the score remained at 1 nil. One into the period Eagles won a corner and from the goal mouth scramble the ball fell to an unmarked player in the box who drove the ball low and into the corner to equalise.
The second period saw the Tigers compete head to head with the Eagles, Max and Owen adding fresh legs to a team whose fitness levels still need a good boost. However we continued to compete, chase and tried hard to get the passing game going which reaped so many rewards last week. Again Charlotte and Mark stood firm in goal and defence, with the latter keeping the attacks at bay very well. Had Mark not picked up a knock late on in the period I’m sure he would have played right through.
Both Matt and Evel had quiet games today, perhaps due to the fact that we defended more than we attacked today.
Into the final period and Eagles were pushing hard to find a winner, Charlotte saved well a couple of times and Max was on hand a number of times to clear. Our work rate was high all day and as such Eagles found it hard to breach the defence and get meaningful shots on goal.
However as the game was drawing to a close a firm shot at the near post saw the keeper unable to hold on to the shot and it slipped inside the near post, much to the relief of the Eagles supporters.
Time ticked away and Tigers literally threw everyone including the keeper forward for a corner. All 14 players found themselves in the Eagles box, the corner came in and 5 shots and some howls/gasps later the ball didn’t go in and full time was called.
Results don’t say everything and one thing the Tigers can be proud of is how they compete and work as a team each week.
