Today we were at KESH on the 3G, so no doubts about the game being on despite torrential rain, and our second cup tie in the space of a week but it’s the divisional cup this time.
The game had a lively feel to it from the start, with a lot of the boys knowing each other from school or playing together at Lyndon colts in years gone by. Obviously some interest for myself too as I coached a lot of those boys at Lyndon, as well as our former Reds captain Ollie.
We setup as we did last week, with 2 holding midfielders trying to act as a buffer for the defence, and hopefully get us started with some counter attacks. Honestly, we struggled a bit in the first half, scrapping for everything but not quite having as much bite as Sheldon, and unable to drive any attacks due to what seemed like a very congested midfield. A few times I think we could’ve released the ball a bit quicker, but we were taking that extra touch at times and then swarmed by blue shirts making things very difficult. It was Sheldon who drew first blood, with a cracking effort from outside the area which flew into the top corner, no chance for our keeper Harrison, 1-0. The game continued in a similar fashion, with Hampton staying strong but unable to break through on goal. Sheldon would then capitalise on a bit of a mix-up where I think we were caught in two minds, then the ball broke free with defence and keeper stranded, the striker rolling into an empty net. 2-0.
Decided then to contain until half time, so Sanders would go on and plug that hole in the middle where we seemed to be losing a lot of first and second balls… I have to say he went in with a bang too, crunching a couple of tackles… you wouldn’t believe the influence things like that can have, and you could hear some of our boys enjoyed those ones so perhaps this could be a catalyst for the second half?
HT 2-0.
We spoke during the break about sticking in there, continue fighting and the chances would eventually arrive.. as well as ensuring we were in front of those blue players when we’re taking goal kicks, trying to win that first AND second ball. We looked every single player in the eye and asked the question “do we want this lads?” The resounding response was “YES!!”.
The second half started as the first ended really, and Sheldon again hit one from long range and it bounced off the bar, that could’ve been game, set, match! Some big tackles, fighting for everything and trying to be patient so we could strike when the opportunities came… hints of a breakthrough were starting to appear, when Omar and Rushy breaking clear but the keeper a match for them both. Then we had a corner which Omar headed towards goal only for the keeper to pull off an excellent save… would it be one of those days?
Chances were now coming and Rushy could smell blood, racing down that left wing and he knew he had the beating of everyone for pace, but again the keeper kept him out. Then came the breakthrough, former Sheldon player Omar winning the ball on the left hand side and driving towards goal, squeezing the ball under the keeper, 2-1. Hampton’s tails were now fully up, with Fin, who had done an excellent job for us at Right back to weather the final minutes of the first half storm, pushed back onto the wing and showed his super speed to burst down and get that ball across the box, only for our former skipper to unfortunately slide the ball past the Sheldon keeper for the equaliser. I did feel for Ollie in that moment, I know this would be a big day for him and I was gutted because I know how that feels, but with a side feeling of elation that we’d come back from the dead to level the game… 2-2!
At this point, there was only one team in this, the Reds! Our pace was becoming impossible to handle and Rushys onslaught was amazing to watch, with Sheldon having 5 lads chasing him at one point and also grabbing a yellow card when taking him down.
THEN CAME THE MOMENT….
Josh M, who has been excellent in that holding midfield role with a no-frills but all-energy performance, popped one forward for Rushy to chase… now he must have made up 15 yards on the defence, to then break clear and compose himself before slotting beautifully past the keeper and complete the Hampton comeback, WOW WOW WOW!!!
Celebrations from the boys (a little bit wild but we have spoken about that) but there was still 6 minutes to go.
However, the Reds would comfortably see out the game, even creating one or two more half chances before trying to keep the ball in the corner.
FULL TIME 2-3.
What a second half performance!!
I say it a lot, but every week it gets more difficult to single out one player for praise when this TEAM puts in effort like that.
Harrison’s handling and distribution was again excellent. The back 4 really stuck in there, through some difficult times and excelled as the game went on. The entire midfield and strikers, whether attacking or defending, worked tirelessly for 70 minutes and ended up getting their just rewards. Games are about moments, and you can’t overlook the hard work of these real team-players we have, that do a great job every week and ensure that we can have moments in games like today where we’re scoring good goals and getting the result we deserve in the end. It does not go unnoticed and we really do have a great TEAM here.
That said, todays MOTM was absolutely superb, and having got a hatrick last week could consider himself unfortunate not to pick up MOTM then, but today he was simply the driving force for this comeback win, well done Rushy!
UP THE REDS
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