Please find below the Match Report for the 60s League game against Margate 60s.
The 60s completed the 2023/24 league season was their final game against Margate at Aylesham, fresh on the back the the fantastic result against Woodnesborough Bees.
Margate started the game the stronger and enjoyed concerted periods of possession. We, on the other hand, struggled to get going. We spent a lot of the initial stages chasing the ball and the possession we did have was short lived. Despite this, we were the first to test the opposition keeper with a speculative shot fired in from Mike.
Margate were getting joy down their left managing to overload our defence. Their pressure was beginning to toll and they started to work regular shooting chances predominantly from long range which went wide or dealt with easily by Jan. However, one such shot ricocheted back and high giving them a free kick right in front of our goal. We managed to get set defensively with the first shot blocked but it going high. The subsequent free kick was taken more swiftly and a low hard shot breached our defensive line and passed Jan into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
We now started to defend deeper which thwarted our ability to get forward and really penetrate the opposition. We were limited to long range efforts that were easily handled by their keeper and the half finished with us behind 1 - 0.
A change of players and a formation tweak was made at half time and we came our with more purpose. We were getting more ball out wide on our right with Simon hugging the touchline and seeing plenty of the ball. He was feeding Mike and Rupert up from and we started to gain momentum and possession higher up the pitch. We had a series of corners with the result from one seeing Colin warming their goalkeepers hands from the edge of their area.
A few moments later, Mike broke a tackle and was through on our right. Unfortunately, he pulled his shot and it went agonising wide of their left hand post. We pressed high and their indiscipline started to show with the game becoming fractured and littered with breaks in play.
We were now pushing hard to get back on terms, which we probably deserved on the second half performance. 2 further substitutions were made and we were enjoying extended periods of possession but they defended well and limited the penetration that we could achieve.
They were counter-attacking often at speed and illegally which was picked up by the referee. As we strived to equalised we were leaving room in between our midfield and defence, having just a single defender to guard their striker. With only minutes to go, they were given a free kick on their left. The ball was rolled back and the Margate forward struck a sweet curling shot which evade our defences and ended up in the top corner of our goal. Jan didn't have a chance it was hit so well.
This really took the remaining wind from our sails and they managed the possession and the game to its ultimate conclusion.
My thanks and praise goes out to the entire squad who had tried their all and gave a much improved performance than the first time we played Margate this season. The opposition even made comment that we were a lot better and it was a much harder game than they were expecting.
My thanks to the supporters who braved the low temperatures and inclement conditions and turned up to give the usual enthusiastic encouragement and vocal support.
This may have been a sore defeat but in comparison to our previous games against Margate this was the best that we had been. We finished in fourth place but this season has been transitional for this team and the 60s have grown in strength, stamina and, most importantly, belief in what they can do on the pitch and what they are capable of. The outlook for next season is looking bright and I, for one, am excited about what this team will be doing.
Paul
