Our first League game of the season and we expected it to be tricky, so it was a bit of a surprise that we took the lead on just 3 minutes. Simon squeezed a pass out to Ollie on the left wing who crossed low into the box. Cammy shot through a gap in the defence to poke the ball past the keeper.
It did become a little trickier after that, the strong wind blowing down the pitch and some strange refereeing decisions. Wraggy being charged in the back and nothing awarded, their winger trying to take Chiv out over the ball again nothing. Then on 18 minutes the ref Blows his whistle and points, not sure where or why. We ask and then he says penalty for shirt pulling. Both Graney and their forward had a handful of each others....anyway they made it 1-1.
The wind was actually causing more problems for the team kicking with it, rather than against it and Racecourse found that so many through balls were running all the way through. We were keeping the ball down and making good progress that way. On 26 minutes Dom took a throw-in, a short one to Aiden who chipped it into the box. The wind held it up and it sailed over the goalie to restore our one goal advantage. Three minutes later, Aiden played a ball into Foxy in the middle of the Racecourse half. He threaded it through to Simon who had his first shot saved but tucked the rebound home for a 3-1 lead. On 35 minutes it was 4-1 as Corie put away another rebound following a brilliant passing move involving half the team culminated in a cracking cross from Ollie. Two more great crosses from Aiden on the left caused havoc for Racecourse before we had reached half-time. Simon volleyed one past the keeper but the linesman had his flag up for offside. Not sure it was, particularly with the reputation Racecourse linesmen have.
With the wind behind us and a good lead, the instruction was shoot on sight, if it wasn’t on target then it would go miles and give us a few seconds rest. We had plenty of efforts from distance but didn’t test the keeper. We were also struggling to play anything other than the long ball, the wind had grown so strong. On the other hand Racecourse were coping better playing into the wind and they got a goal back on 56 minutes, Adam made a great save and we half cleared the ball but Racecourse collected the loose ball, crossed in behind the defence and finished the move with a simple tap-in. Ten minutes later and another cross not cleared brought racecourse right back into it with a third goal. They were now on the ascendency and we were beginning to look tired but we were holding on and as we reached the 80 minute mark we were ready to celebrate the 3 points. The ref though, had other ideas. It seems he added time on for every second their keeper was fetching the ball. So by the 3rd minute of stoppage time and under pressure we were awarded a free-kick on the edge of our own box. Wraggy took it, finding Ollie on the left. He sent the ball over the top for Simon whose early shot was charged down by a defender. Simon got to the loose ball and fired a shot into the top corner with the keeper only able to get his fingertips to the ball to help it on its way. Game over....well it should have been. But with nearly 7 minutes of stoppage time played and Manor still reshuffling after a substitution, Racecourse scored again with a shot from outside the area that caught Adam unaware. It was a further minute before the ref blew for full time and the final score was a 5-4 win. A pleasing performance in the conditions against one of the strongest teams in the division. Man of the match went to Aiden but there were other candidates, Ollie and Corie in midfield and Simon up front showed plenty of energy and commitment.
