Our final game of the season welcomed Boldmere Falcons to Hampton, where our position in the league was secured but they’re fighting against relegation, which is surprising as we could only manage a draw and a defeat in the two away fixtures against this side earlier in the season (albeit we were suffering with injuries then).
So with nothing to play for on our side other than increasing the gap on the teams below and closing the gap on the teams above, we would definitely be rotating the team regularly to allow everyone to get some decent playing time.
The reds, now a different animal to the one at the start of the season, were straight in on the front foot and after 2 minutes would go 1-0 up thanks to a nice switch of play and then a cross-come-shot from Fin that evaded the keeper and flew into the far corner of the net.
Boldmere, clearly fired up by their coach before the game, were flying into tackles but Hampton’s pace and skill was simply too much, and our talisman Rushy soon had us 2-0 up when he drove down the wing in his trademark style, and after his first shot was parried he followed up with a nice finish. JP almost got in on the act and fizzed a left foot effort from 20 yards that was tipped wide by the keeper. Boldmere managed to carve out a chance but Oscar worked hard to get a good block in and it went wide for a corner.
Changes-a-plenty in the first half and obviously this disrupts the flow of the game but Hampton remained in total control and despite a few chances came in at half time with the score remaining at 2-0.
10 minutes into the second half and the game would be officially out of site for Boldmere. The 3rd goal coming from Rushy, bursting through again and finishing and then getting his 4th hatrick (I think) of the season when Omar fizzed one across goal and Rushy’s shot took a deflection which looped over the keeper.
A bit of a mix-up at the back meant Harrison’s clearance fell to a Boldmere player 30 yards out and he took on the shot at the open goal which trickled in. Disappointing not to get the clean-sheet we deserved but also if we don’t make mistakes we don’t learn anything.
The final chance of note fell to Josh P who had a couple of efforts blocked, then it dropped to Ollie but his shot was also blocked away as Boldmere desperately tried to avoid further punishment by the hungry reds.
Indeed they did and the ref blew the final whistle, with the curtain coming down on a cracking season with a 4-1 victory.
We haven’t spoken too much about the league table this season, because that can really be a distraction for the boys when all we want them to do is play to the best of their ability. However, now it’s all said and done, we finished an impressive 4th and were only beaten in the league by the 3 teams above us.. with all but one by fine margins indeed.
MOTM today was awarded to this player for the 4th time this season having increased his impressive stats tally to 27 goals (4 hatricks) alongside his 8 assists to give him an incredible 35 goal contributions this season. Well done Rushy!
Well done to every single player this season, everyone has contributed one way or another, and I look forward to giving you all your individual credit at the presentation evening on 24th May.
UP THE REDS
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