Castleford are a well organised disciplined team, who have provided excellent battles over the years. Up until this season Crofton have been unable to a result against them. The away encounter in which Crofton finally got the 3 points, provided heavy heart beat moments.
This encounter was no different. We know the players which pull the strings and tagged them from the word go. This prevented them being as effective, but this also made the players tracking them less effective when they did have possession. Castlford knew our strengths and had in place ideas of how they would stop our key players.
Unfortunately for them Lukas had other plans, his hattrick beginning as early as the 1st minute. The second came a little later. Crofton absorbed any pressure and applied plenty themselves. It was quite even stevens really with both keepers having to apply themselves whether in open play or from corners and free kicks.
Maison donned the goalkeeper gloves for the absent Scott, he was comfortable and assured in his play. Jake stuck to the task of preventing Castleford's no.8 from being effective and Michael did the same on no.17. I don't think the lad knew what hit him when suddenly Michael tracked him everywhere. Early doors, Joe did a great job of cutting the through ball out and clearing his space. The back four looked comfortable and Liam was back to his old self imposing and strong on the attacking left side. Jamie did his usual energetic performance. Lukas and Jimmy looked as if it was amatch made in heaven with little 1-2's and neat play.
2 nil at half time and we at Crofton were happy. We know Castleford never let us off the hook and we prepared the team for this.
Abdul made his first start for Crofton, giving Jimmy a rest up front and showed promise of what is to come in the future. Lucy also later came on with about 25mins to go.
Lucy put herself about alot and gave the away team plenty to think about. I don't think they gave her enough respect and she duelly made them live to regret this with some excellent positional play, solid tackles and pinpoint passes.
Castleford managed to get the ball past Maison. But a excellent kick from Maison set Lukas on his way, just 5 mins later to complete his hattrick.
Michael's presence on the no.17 became a little to strong when he was adjudged to have fouled him in the penalty box, this was possibly down to a near miss infringement 3mins earlier from Boggy which just lead to a corner. The resulting penalty brought the score back to 3-2 in Crofton's favour, but you could feel Castleford growing in confidence.
This continued until an excellent through ball from Boggy set the electric speed of Jimmy on his way. Who showed speed, strength and control to finish the move off with the 4th goal, this basically brought Castleford back down to earth.
Both sides produced great entertainment. And it was a fantastic game to witness.
One downside, their coach let himself down by saying we only have 1 player and they didn't play at all in the initial 10 mins. I highlighted they only have 2 players and we marked them out of the game. Tit-for-tat really but hey ho. 3 points to Crofton!
