Tunbridge Wells Youth Hawks tried their luck at breaking Forest Row’s six-game winning streak in today’s 10.30 kick-off at The Croft. The odds were stacked against the Hawks after losing to lesser opposition in recent weeks but they arrived at the ground early and looked fired up for the clash.
The game got off to a flying start when left-midfielder Twigg pounced on a poor touch from the Hawks’ centre-half after just a few seconds of play. He narrowly missed the one-on-one but this set the tone for the early stages of the game. The Hawks soaked up attack after attack for the most part of the first half while occasionally breaking forward on the counter. Forest Row had plenty of opportunities from corners in this period but much to the frustration of Hawkins and Thornley-Gibson, nothing came of them.
A long ball through from Nichols was destined for the offside right-midfielder Martin but he stepped back and allowed centre-forward Hewitt to run onto the ball and loop it over the keeper, breaking the deadlock. Forest Row went into the break a goal up and confident that they could put a few more past the Hawks keeper.
Hollidge replaced Chahal who had run himself into the ground to keep the Green’s heart beating in the first half and Wright replace Pleon who had been unlucky not to find the back of the net.
Just after the break the Forest Row boys were given more to cheer about when Twigg danced round three dazzled defenders and slotted the ball past the keeper despite seeming to hold onto the ball too long. The silky winger seemed to be oozing confidence from this moment on after scoring his seventh goal in just three games.
The Forest Row ever-present defensive line of Dench, Thornley-Gibson, Nichols and Morgan-Rowe looked solid up to this point but the Green Army faithful on the touchline were screaming out for a third goal to put the game to bed. Their prayers were answered shortly after when Martin cleverly fed Hewitt on the right had side who drilled a low cross into the path of the oncoming goal-machine that is Fergus Twigg. The ball was rifled into the bottom right-hand corner, well out of the keeper’s reach, and the game seemed over at 3-0.
Minutes later though the posh boys from T Wells struck back when a fumbled ball from Dan Wright in the Forest row goal was pounced on controversially by the oncoming Hawks number ten. Thornley-Gibson was too slow to react and the ball was knocked in from a yard out, putting an end to the league record six hour clean sheet that Forest row had managed to hold.
This had riled up the Hawks and they pounced on another defensive error from Thornley Gibson who misjudged a clearing header and fed the opposition striker who placed a side-footed shot past Wright to make it 3-2. The Green Army needed a boost as they were falling to pieces and Spalding came on with a pair of fresh legs and added some pace and power to the Forest Row midfield.
The game remained at 3-2 for another 15 minutes before a textbook corner from Morgan Rowe was met by the head of Hawkins, who leapt like a salmon to drive the ball into the corner of the net before the keeper had time to move. The score was now 4-2 and the home team now had the wind in their sails again.
It looked as if the game would end 4-2 but with just seconds left, Hollidge brought down the ball spectacularly in the middle of the park before quickly glancing up and using his eagle-like vision to spot Twigg’s run on the left-hand side of the pitch. He caressed the ball gently over the Hawk’s right-back and straight into the line of Twigg’s darting run. Twigg again bemused the opposition defence with his slick moves and drew a foul to win a penalty which he put away with composure to get his third, and Forest Row’s fifth. Hollidge proceeded to claim the assist and the dubious assists panel are yet to reach a verdict on the incident. That is to say, it was a truly sublime pass.
The game was arguably Forest Row’s toughest of the season due to the physicality of their opponents. It was a real battle right up to the final whistle. The opposition’s number three was brought to tears on many occasions due to crunching challenges from Thornley-Gibson, Dench, Hawkins and Wright. The Hawks even resorted to bringing on an elephant in the second half to try to gain the upper hand in the middle of the park. It was an entertaining game with plenty of controversy and a handful of goals too.
My man of the match goes to Jonny Dench for his expert reading of the game and one hundred percent effort for the full ninety minutes but Twigg and Hewitt were close behind with their goals and work rate further up the pitch. And Twigg won the teamstats.net man of the match award with five votes after another briliant hat-trick to see off a good Hawks side.
Very well played lads,
Conor Thornley-Gibson
