The weather was atypical bright but cold November morning with a strong wind blowing down the length of the pitch which was only in fair condition.
With several players missing with injuries and a few no shows Hadcroft had to make a few position changes that really worked very well. James Smith went in goal, Andy Perry moved to centre half, Damon Lewis to left back, Sean Gray to left side midfield, Julian Probyn to right side mid field and Luke Smith went up front. Straight from the kick off you could tell that this was a different Hadcroft from last week the passing and interlinking was a pleasure to watch. Damon Lewis and Sean Gray linked up brilliantly and on 10 minutes a lovely move between them saw Sean Gray get the first of his hat trick 1 – 0. MOM Luke Smith never stopped chasing anything all day and was rewarded for his persistency on 17 minutes when he kept the pressure and the Red Cow defence and went round the Keeper to score 2 – 0. Hadcroft had several chances from Julian Probyn Chris Smith and David Chamber before Sean Gray got his second and Hadcrofts 3rd on 38 minutes 3 - 0.
HALF TIME 3 – 0
Hadcroft did not carry on at the beginning of the second half as they had done the first and for 20 minutes looked very vulnerable. Red Cow pulled 1 back on 53 minutes when a heavy clearance from the Red Cow defence assisted by the blustery wind saw the ball fly into the top left hand corner of the net giving Hadcroft keeper Jay Smith no chance 3 – 1. If a free kick on 60 minutes from Red Cow had found the net rather than skimming the cross bar this could well have been a different match but against the run of play Sean Gray went to cross but mishit it and the ball ended in the back of the net on 68 minutes 4 – 1. This goal took the wind out of Red Cow and it was Hadcroft that picked up the tempo and started to put pressure on the Red Cow defence. The ever hard working Julian Probyn finally got his just rewards with to hard fought for goals on 81 and 85 minutes 6 – 1. In between the goals MOM Luke Smith was replaced by Scott Newman. Red Cow did not give up and scored their second when a mistake in the Hadcroft defence let the Red Cow striker with an open goal 6 – 2.
FULL TIME 6 – 2
Next match Sunday 4th December away at Wordsley park against Malt Shovel kick off 10.30.
