A tough away fixture to reigning Newark Alliance champions and Sam Arnold winners for the first game of the up and coming season awaited the men in orange. Having selection problems the night before a game of such importance is never I deal but all the hard work gathering a squad capable of coping with players missing was very important.
We selected a very strong and attacking team and using our favoured 4-2-3-1 in hope it would make us good going forward but also protecting the back four. This was evident within the first 15 minutes when we came out all guns blazing. After 15 minutes we found ourselves 1 nil up thanks to some excellent work down the left from new signings Lewis Chambers and Ben Porter with the latter squaring the ball to leading marksmen Chris Self to turn his defender and rifle the ball into the bottom corner to take a 1 nil lead.
Joe Braithwaite was causing all sorts of havoc down the right hand side, Wheatsheaf could not handle his pace and drive and started to give needless free kicks away. One free kick resulting in a debut goal for the very promising 18 year old Chambers. A quick free kick from Braithwaite caught everyone out apart from Chambers who with a calm header at the far post made it 2 nil to Coddington.
We continued to pepper Wheatsheafs defence with attack after attack, with Braithwaite going close twice and Self also going close after a solo run. Sheaf then scored from a breakaway goal beating the 'offside' trap with Jonny Upton coolly slotting away his one on one with Craig Lamb. Full credit to Sheaf for getting back into a game where they should of been out of sight.
Within 10 minutes of the re start of the 2nd half we were level pegging at 2 all. With Sheaf being awarded a dubious penanlty from a usually excellent Ref, this was calmly dispatched by Danny Garrett. Game on.
We then needed to show some resilience in defence as Wheatsheaf has their tails up and were looking for a third, Marc Toule and Ryan Stafford cleared off the line to keep the scores at 2 apiece, when a break away from Toule allowed him to deliver a good cross to Ben porter who's shot was blocked, the resulting re bound falling at the feet of Scott Grieson who poked the ball into the empty net.
Straight back down the other end Wheatsheaf had a chance to equalise with a own goal from Braithwaite who hit the post with an unconventional clearance. With danger avoided there was only ever one team to win it. after a great pre-season fitness started to tell and it wasn’t long before we extended our lead. Chambers picking the ball up just inside Wheatsheafs half by knocking the opposing player off the ball as if he was a 14 year old boy, with a drop of the shoulder and a right foot unstoppable shot from 20 yards completed a great debut from the former trainee from Mansfield Town.
Virtually the following attack we were awarded a penalty ourselves after the magician that is Griesons' quick feet forced a foul in the box. This was dispatched with minimum fuss by Self who rocketed it into the far corner. With only one minute left on the clock on the counter attack Wheatsheaf scored with a excellent header from a corner. Final score 5-3 to the boys in orange.
All in all a great performance against a team that set the standards last season. A very good team performance all round with a few stand out players, Bob Walker being asked to play back in midfield for the first time in a while, Jay Boby also playing in a unfamiliar position but covered the whole pitch with his great work and effort. Ben Porter with a very disciplined performance tucking in when Joe Braithwaite bombed on, Braithwaite was as usual top quality in any position asked to play. Chris Self ran his socks off with a lot of hard work with excellent link up play. Lewis as previously mentioned was excellent as was Liam Bray when he came on for Walker with 30 minutes remaining. That is picking the best out of a very good bunch, everyone played well and the commitment and discipline was what we want as a club....Roll on the next game Notts Senior cup. Manager MOM - Jay Boby, Cozi's MOM - Joe Braithwaite, Opposition MOM - Chris Self...
