Our final game of 2014 saw us face Whitburn & Cleadon on this very cold morning. We were thankful that the game went ahead but the quality of football was effected by a poor pitch that caused the ball to bobble all over the place.
To the lad's credit, they did continue to try and play passing football. Whitburn were proving to be a lot more physical than the previous match we played against them & this was certainly not going to be a repeat result from the 13-0 a few weeks ago. We always looked the side more likely to score as Whitburn didn't threaten our goal too often and Alex wisely kept his coat on whilst in goal. We took the lead on 10 mins when Mete found the net after Niall should probably have scored himself 1-0. Three mins later and we went 2-0 ahead when Niall did get his goals after being set up by Mete 2-0. A deserved lead but Whitburn were certainly not giving up and continued to battle and make things difficult & on 30 mins, they pulled a goal back. We probably should have cleared our lines better but it was a good finish that no keeper could save 2-1. No further goals in the first half so a slender lead at half time.
We gave the lads a lot of credit at the interval as they had tried to play football & we just asked them to start testing the keeper more often from outside the box as this was probably the only thing that we probably could have done more of in the first half.
The next goal was going to be crucial & thankfully it went our way. Aaron swung in a corner kick which Cameron got his head onto and his looping header gave the keeper no chance, 3-1 & we had the comfort of a two-goal lead. We had made a number of outfield subs throughout the game & we also made a change in goal too, with Kayde coming on for Alex (after we eventually managed to find him a pair of shin pads ha ha). Flynn, who had a great game suffered an unfortunate injury & had to be carried off the pitch. He did go to get checked out and x-rayed later and thankfully no breaks but a couple of weeks rest needed - we wish flynn a speedy recovery.
During the event of treating Flynn, I missed both of our next 2 goals, but I can report that James was the scorer of both of them & also as a result of this, he became the scorer of our 100th goal of the 2014-15 season - well done.
Final score 5-1
Joint men of the Match - Scott & Joe. A tough choice but both of these lads had not won a m.o.t.m award as yet & I feel both of these lads put in a great shift today. Scott was excellent at the back, he kept everything simple and didn't put a foot wrong. Joe's pace on the right wing has been a massive positive feature this season, both in attack & also tracking back defensively - well done lads.
In summary - you could say it wasn't the preetiest of wins or the most exciting of performances but having watched this match and how difficult the playing surface was, combined with the physical determination from the Whitburn lads, I feel this was a great win - credit to the lads.
