A fixture that was certainly entertaining for the neutral, and fiery, saw both teams share the points.
We started off with a 4-3-3 of, Big Dave between the sticks, a defence of Lava, Bandy, Plaz and Jack. Our midfield trio was Pad, Caino and Joe, with Danny, Mads and Tommy as our attacking trio. It was Houghton who started the better of the 2 teams, as Raptors again didnt switch on at the start of the game. Their first goal came as Raptors didn't close down quick enough, and allowed their player to be free on the edge of the area. He picked up the ball, opened his body, and finished a neat shot to Big Daves left corner. 1-0.
Raptors had the chance to get straight back in to the game as they were awarded a freekick, that saw Ryan Maddock hit it beautifully onto the joint. Unfortunately the rebound didn't fall to a Raptor, and the ball was cleared.
Houghton then were awarded a corner, which sae them extend the lead. The ball not cleared again, found one of their players who somehow squeezed it in through a wall of players. 2-0.
Raptors couldn't believe what was happening. Action was taken as 3 subs came on. Danny, Bandy and Caino giving way for Jason, Kingsley and Brendan and the formation changing to a 4-4-2.
Raptors got a life line before half time as a pin point kick from Big Dave, found Kingsley, who brought the ball down well, and put a delicate chip over the defender to Thomas Tompkins. His first touch was sweet, and pushed him wide on goal, but finished off nicely to get us back in the game.
Just before halftime, Houghton threatend to grab a 3rd, only for Big Dave to pull off a wonderful one hand save to his bottom left.
Half time saw no changes.
The second half was our chance to get back into the game and show what we are made of. We dominated the early stages of the half, and a beautiful ball in by Mads, met the head of Jason Fleeting, which hit the keeper, but fell back to Jasons feet, which saw him poke it home. 2-2.
We continued to pile on the pressure and should've had another 2 goals, but luck was with the woodwork and not us, as twice we hit the post.
Another great chance saw Pad with a magnificent tackle in which he won the ball and put it across the area to the on rushing Jason, who somehow put his chance wide. Would've backed my house on it hitting the back of the net.
We then got what we deserved as a David Silva-ess ball through by Chris Patrickson found Brendan Cunningham who slotted away nicely to give us a 3-2 lead. The celebrations were wild which saw inflatable Roy the Raptor join in ??.
Caino then replaced Pad, and could've had a goal from a beautiful freekick that Kingsley put into the area, but the ball ended up going over the bar.
Raptors continued to outplay Houghton and a ball into Kingsley Lambert saw him finish off a delightful lob over the keeper, only for the lino (an ex Raptor trialist) call for offside. An incorrect call and one that saw him become joint knobber of the day.
As the clock was ticking down to the end of the game, another lapse saw Houghton pull one back. A freekick given in the centre for a handball was hit over the top and put across the area, for them to tap in.
The last 10 should've seen Houghton down to 10 men, as one of their players put his hands on the ref. A straight red card offense, but the ref decided on sin binning the idiot.
Houghton finished the game with a string of corners, that nearly saw then pick up the win, as a header at the back hit the bar, and fell to Dave.
Man of the Match today went to David Adams for a string of important saves, that kept us in the game. Top stuff from the big man.
A game which after the first 30 minutes, we were lucky to be in, saw the lads show real grit and determination to turn around. 2-0 down to leading 3-2 is the kind of performance we want to be seeing. Yes we dropped 2 points but the positve performance and attitude to not drop our heads and roll over needs praising.
I also want to say a huge thanks to those who didn't come on. I understand that you all want to play and give something to the team, and this is the attitude we want. However, with the game as close as it was, I had to think about what I thought was best for the team.
