A great result & performance today for the Lazio boys against the Cougars. Without our midfield general Ryan Hill & Assistant Manager Graham Hill we took on Wilmslow Cougars at home.This caused us to make some positioning changes from our usual 3-3-2 starting line up to a 3-4-1 which helped us compete for possession of the ball in the middle.We started brightly and from the early stages of the game we were on the front foot causing Wilmslow problems from our pressing midfielders ben gregory & skipper thomas higgins with our lone striker josh Sykes being a constant threat.We were doing everything right but just couldn't seem to put the ball into the back of the net, with less than 5 mins to go before the end of the first 20 we broke through the Wilmslow defense with a clever ball played into ben Gregory ,from our right winger Henry Barlow, Ben coolly slotted it past the oncoming keeper to give us our deserved lead.We were definitely looking like a team that had more goals in our locker and that's exactly what happened, from a fantastic delivery from a corner by ben Gregory josh gibbon rose higher than everyone else & headed in from close range.With changes made at the break we started the second 20mins as we finished the first 20 on the front foot, Daniel had been called on to make 3 crucial saves which he pulled off exceptionally well, the 3 boys at the back were in fantastic form with very little getting past them and there distribution from the back proving to be a constant help for our wingers and midfielders.Wilmslow did pull a goal back from a corner that we failed to deal with but this seemed to spur us on for more goals, we needed more threat up front so we changed to 3-3-2 pairing up Flynn & josh Sykes up front with constant threat Thomas davenport busy on the right wing.from a ball played into josh Sykes from midfield by Thomas Higgins we beat the offside trap and allowed josh to put us 3-1 up, this then allowed us to press harder and higher which we did with great affect allowing Thomas davenport to come in from the right wing to make it 4-1.We couldn't rest on our laurels and had to keep pressing this Wilmslow team that seemed out on there feet by the speed of our passing and movement off the ball. Up stepped Henry Barlow who scored what was the first of 2 fantastic goals, after receiving the ball from our oncoming left winger Nathan hawtin, Henry turned his defender beautifully on the edge of the box and drilled the ball into the top right hand corner leaving the keeper no chance taking us to 5-1.having spent most of the game in Wilmslow's half we did have to defend a number of counter attacks which our back three of Thomas m, Thomas dykes & josh gibbon handled superbly, Daniel did have to make a save in the last 20mins which was outstanding as he had to be low and at full stretch to get a strong hand on it.Our goal scorers were still hungry and wanting more when josh Sykes picked up a stray pass in the oppositions box that he went to took away from the keeper but it took a wicked deflection from a Wilmslow defender that saw it nestle inside the goal to make it 6-1.With a little bit of complacency setting in we allowed a break down there right wing which saw us switch off for a moment to allow them in to make it 6-2.We regrouped and made sure we finished strong from this setback which saw us press forward as a unit and after some play in the middle of the pitch ben Gregory spotted Henry Barlow on the right of the box and played a great pass into him which he took well and finished even better by looping it over the keeper and into the far side of the net making the final score 7-2 to brooklands dragons Lazio.The boys have a break until the 5th November where we start the defence of our cup against Sale Utd storm.For there fantastic efforts at both ends of the pitch there were joint winners of the man of the match to Daniel Williamson & Henry Barlow
