A strong all round display from the boys today was rewarded with a fine victory by 7 goals to 1 over fellow Heyside outfit Junior Blues at Wright Robinson Sports College.
The first half was evenly contested but as the half wore on chances to take the lead came and went with Lewis as usual causing mayhem in the oppostion ranks. The breakthrough finally came in the 19th minute after more good work from Lewis ended with Baillie on the spot to fire home from close range after the keeper parried away the initial shot - I don't know who jumped highest me or Baillie's dad Ash to celebrate his first goal for the team, well done Baillie it just shows the benefits of following up on shots and Liam later repeated the trick for one of his well deserved hat-trick.
Liam's first goal came 2 minutes after we had taken the lead with a neat close range finish after terrific play out wide from Brandon who made several great runs and crosses today and was unlucky not to add to his tally.
Seven minutes later and Lewis was on the scoresheet again with a long range freekick that gave the Junior Blues keeper no chance. At the other end Jack in goal was kept on his toes sprinting outside his area to clear from the onrushing Junior Blues forward but despite a few anxious moments defenders Joel, Lennon, Tyrae, Matty, Jacob and Luke L all produced sterling work to keep the opposition at bay. Great to have Lennon back after missing a couple of games through injury.
The second half started and within 3 minutes the game was as good as over after Brandon cut in from the left and produced a clinical finish as his left foot drive flashed past the keeper into the far corner. Jack then made a great save to preserve his clean sheet with a fine reflex effort to keep the ball out and then minutes later Lewis grabbed his second to make the score 5 - 0.
Credit to the Junior Blues they kept pressing to try and get a foothold in the game and pegged a goal back by old boy Kian from the penalty spot after Lennon was harshly adjudged to have brought down the Junior Blues forward.
Sam and Luke L provide a fantastic platform for the team in midfield, Luke providing tremendous cover for the back 4 and Sam today just got better and better winning everything in the centre of the park and providing 3 or 4 defence splitting passes to the forwards. Dan also showed up really well today and was another who came close to grabbing a first goal for the team and Luke H along with Baillie linked well in attack.
Liam completed his hat-trick courtesy of assists by Lewis and Ryan and then Jacob went close to grabbing his first goal for the team after using his pace to get through on goal after more good work from Liam and the game came to an end with bragging rights to our boys until we meet the Junior Blues again in the Spring season after the final score ended 7 - 1.
MOM: A terrific hat-trick and another hard working display earned Liam the award but Sam, Lewis and Luke pushed him mighty close with top performances by the rest of the lads.
