A freezing cold saturday morning greeted the team at Hyde Road. The pitches were like concrete but had started to slowly melt by the time the ref arrived and fair play to him when he said that the game would be played.
Due to Andy and Grovesy missing from the squad this week a re-shuffle was in order. We decided to go with a 3-5-2 formation and lined Matt, Luke and Robbie up as our center backs.
The first half was domnated by LHC, having more attemps on goal but failing to put many away. Charlemont Star offered little pressure on our goal but the defence and Carl were able to soak up any stray balls. The LHC break through came on the 30 minute mark. A clearance from defence fell to Callum, who played a through ball to Bob. No matter what way you look at it, he was a mile offside. The linesman, who shall remain name less, wasn't paying attention and was half the pitch away from where he should have been. No flag was raised and Bob did as he should, played to the whistle, and tucked the ball past the keeper to put LHC 1-0 up. The remaining 15 minutes carried on in the same manner as the previous 30. LHC having more pressure but unable to extend the lead. The 44th minute approached and LHC seemed to be thinking of half time more than defending. Letting a cross come in from the left hand side towards the big Charlemont Star striker. Even though he was blantantly looking for it, the striker went down in the box with little contact from Luke. Charlemont scored the resulting spot kick. 1-1 half time.
After the break, LHC went back out and again put pressure straight on the Charlemont goal. Mikey managed to break into the box and squared the ball across the goal mouth to Bob. Turning the defender Bob triedto get a shot away but was blocked. The rebound then fell to Brainy who put the ball into the corner of the net to put LHC back in front. 2-1. The lead lasted just over 10 mintues though. Cherlemont had a rare corner and the ball came into the box straight to the big striker they had up front whjo headed it into the net! 2-2. LHC went searching for the winning goal and it came from a fluck goal. Bob had broke with the ball into the right hand corner of the pitch and floated a cross into the box. Ball went towards the back post, over the keeper and just crept over the line and into the net. 3-2. Charlemont Put more pressure on during the final 15 minutes but to no avail. 3-2 final score.
A tough match this morning. A frozen pitch help LHC with passing the ball around. Again, we should have put the game to bed by half time but failed to convert our chances. Luke and Robbie played very well considering they have not played in a back 3 before, Callum in midfield played like last week linking play up with the other midfielders and the strikers. Man of the match goes to Matt who showed his experience in defence this morning.
Beacon at home next week, another team who are around the foot of the table. If they play like Charlemont did today then a tough match is in store again. LHC need points to keep the pressure on the teams around us at the top of the table and keep the title dream alive.
