First unlucky game
Our first league game is official and we had the honour to play one of the best teams in the league, SG Manchester. It was a late kick off, but every single Cringle Player was on time and therefore we had a nice warm up and a teamtalk. In the changing room Coach Duffy explained the last detail while Captain Reece had some influential words.
Our starting 11 for this game was Gull in goal, then a 5 man defence consisting of Sam, Cyrus,Reece, Jack S. and George, in midfield we had Dan, Alfie and Dylan , while Conor and Robin had to score the goals. At 18.15 the referee Salem blew his whistle for the kickoff . Straight away SG Manchester put pressure on our defence and it had an immediate effect, after a good clearance of Jack the ball landed in front of a SG defender who rammed the ball upfront, unfortunately Cyrus missed the ball and their striker scored the first goal. Just 5 minutes later we conceded a free kick on the far side of the pitch, their number 10 took it and duo miscommunication Reece headed the ball behind Gull in our own net. 2-0 after just 9 minutes wasn't exactly a confidence boost, however as per usual we didn't give up, Jack L. replaced Cyrus to bring some control into the defence and from that moment we started playing football. With Alfie anchoring midfield, Dylan was free to influence attacks and with a lovely pass he send Robin one-on-one with the keeper, he however reacted quickly which forced Robin to chip it over but the ball was saved on the line and cleared for a corner. Only seconds later Cringle scored a goal , after a brilliant save of Gull he passed the ball to George who rushed down the wing and crossed it into the box, Conor overhead kicked it straight into Robins feet and he scored with a nice volley. Immediately after they kicked off we put pressure on them,with Dan intercepting the ball and sprinting forward. However after crossing the halfway line he clearly got fouled but the referee didn't want to know anything about it , in the counterattack SG were rewarded with a penalty which clearly wasn't one to be honest, so they scored the 3-1 and we were emotionally frustrated. From that moment on Cringle Players started arguing with each other and with the referee which of course didn't have a positive effect on our game and we therefore conceded two more goals. They nearly scored the 6-1 directly from a corner but Dan cleared the ball brilliantly on the line. Just 3 min before halftime another shocking event happened, while trying to turn our defender Jack Sharples fractured his knee and we had to call an ambulance and had to continue the match on another pitch, which is a shame because he did really well in his first game in a Cringle top. After having a good teamtalk and a 20 minute break we started the second half, Ciaran replaced Robin and Cyrus came back on too. The injury might have had an effect on our performance because everyone stepped up their game, with Reece as leading defender and Jack and Cyrus performing excellent we had a stable defence who build up the game well, Sam Chiona and George Walkley supported our attackers well with good sprints and tracking back on the wing, and Dylan,Alfie,Conor and Dan now dominated the midfield and created some nice combinations. Unluckily we conceded a long distance goal which however did not reflect the second half. Reko and Samson replaced George and Alfie and also played their part in the second half, with good passing and supporting the midfield.
Final score, 6-1 .
Cringle Athletic has shown some nice football however we were unlucky sometimes and the referee's decisions didn't help either. Everyone gave a 110 % in the second half and I wanna see this attitude in the next game too. We are playing against ‘The Nelson’ and it will be a difficult game.
Man of the match: Reece for his outstanding defending work and excellent coaching at the back.
Sir Robin Duffy
