So with the league slowly esging to a close we were away to Horndean Hawks who had already run us to a close in the early part of the season,so we knew it wasnt going to be an easy game.
We started with a 4-4-2 with kieron,sam and josh on the bench it was the first time this year 2011 that josh had got himself fit enough to get a place on the bench and with kieron carrying an injury i optet to try max out on the left.
We started off strong playing up hill on a very hard an uneven pitch and from the kick off we noticed how hard it would be with the ball bouncing around like it had a sping attatched to it.
But we managed to settele into the game first and created three good chances in the opening 15 mins first lewis played a great through ball for alfie who out paced the defender but couldnt generate the power to beat the keeper,then max fed alfie through one on one with the keeper but unfortunatly dragged his shot wide of the far post and within mins after that chance alfie round himself breaking clear once again with ryan s pushing the ball on for alfie to chase but he just couldnt get his foot through the ball with the conviction he wanted and pulled it wide of the post,three very good early chances which could of easily gone the other way.
The first half kind of run out of chances with neither team being able to get the ball down to feet and play football,the ball spent more time in the air than on the floor and the game became a little scrappy with tackles starting to fly in and just before the break we had to replace ollie with sam due to a knock on his ankle and the half ended 0-0.
We had a little switcharoo at half time bringing kieron on for ryan s and shuffeling the pack we dropped max back out right with kieron out left lewis and jack swapped positions and cameron joined alfie upfront,as we started the second half playing down hill we knew we had to start playing with alot more pace and conviction.
We started then second half with clear inteant that we were out to win gaining three corners within the opening mins and it was from one of them corners that we grabbed the all important first goal,alfie swung a cross in from the left with was not cleared by the defence the ball found its way to charlie who did well to find himself space where he had time to lift the ball high over the keepers head to make the score 1-0 and set the ball rolling.
Jack was pushing the midfield forward and had two quick chances to put us 2-0 ahead,first he broke clear of the defence but was forced out wide by the run of the ball and dragged his shot into the side netting and then just a few moments later he headed over from yet another good alfie corner.
Lewis,charlie,sam and ryan n were solid at the back dealing with any through ball,high ball and doing it all in a calm and effective manor,leaving billy with not much to do but watch from his goal mouth.
Kieron then had two chances first cameron played kieron through with a class ball splitting the defence but kieron could only manage to drag his shot wide but moments later he picked up a loss ball out on the left and he didnt make the same mistake,cutting into the box he shoot across the keeper slotting the ball home in off the far post to make the score a more comftable 2-0 on 43mins to give us some breathing space.
Alfie had a chance to get the goal he was looking against his old club on 45mins,with the keeper picking up a back pass cameron stepped over the ball tapping it back to alfie who smashed it into the wall of horndean players bunched on the line but his shot was deflected onto the post and cleared.
Max was finding his feet far more back out on the right linking up well with ryan n and cameron and on 47mins max picked up a loss ball just inside the horndean box and smashed it high and hard into the back of the net giving the keeper no chance and making the game 3-0 that soon turned to 4-0 on 53 mins with lewis rising high winning the ball at the back from a horndean break,it fell to sam who put kieron through out on the left,kieron somehow managed to get around the defender to dig out a cracking cross to find the unmarked man in form max who headed home from 4 yards.
Cameron took a knock on 54 mins and he was replaced by josh who was greated with a cheer from the fans as he has spent so long out from a knee injury and was just happy and glad to be back in the team and with just 2mins remaining we continued to push forward and with max picking out toby just inside the box toby took one touch turned and drilled the ball past the helpless keeper to make the score 5-0 on 58mins.
We ended the game always looking for the 6th but run out 5-0 winners with billy claiming his and our second clean sheet in a row,we have grown strong in resent weeks at the back with lewis leading the line very well as captain and sam ollie charlie jack and ryan n all digging deep to protect billy in our goal.
Man of the match was a very close one to give with max having yet another cracking game,we wanted to give it to someone else just to help push some needed confidence and with consulting with darren and rob the desision fell and alfie was awarded man of the match,it went down to his hard work,his constant threat from corners and his creativity unlucky not to get himself on the score sheet.
Well done lads one step closer just keep it up as its been a cracking season so far and we deserve to go all the way,up the hawks :)
