The game today was played on the first cold day we have had all season and with overnight rain and a pitch that doesn’t see a lawnmower very often the lads were going to have to work hard to get anything from the game. We even had a travelling support today despite the weather.
There is nothing like an early goal to calm the nerves except when the opposition score it. Halesworth played a long ball that the striker was more awake for and he scored in the 2nd minute. Fortunately this woke the lads up and we dominated the play from then on. We have spoken about putting challenges in and not letting teams dictate how we play, for the first time this season we had players committing themselves to challenges and letting the opposition know we were there for a game. All our pressure paid off midway through the half when the ball was sent forward by Michael, Luke got the ball and a little flick over the centre back fell to Tom who liked the flick from Luke so much he copied it and did the same over the keeper to get us back on even terms. The goal lifted the lads and we were playing some good stuff from the back to the front. Jody Minter playing his first game back for the club looked comfortable at right back and Hazzy was having a really good game as the holding centre mid after impressing the coaching staff the previous week when he came on as a sub. The Second goal came from Tommy (Fitness) Smith who had the right back tied in knots with his twists and turns. Tom Wilson played a lovely ball from midfield that sent Tommy through on goal he still had a bit to do and finished well past the oncoming keeper to give us the lead. The rest of the half was played out much the same with anything that the home team throwing at our defence being dealt with, Kurt who went on to win man of the match having a good game and making a few last minute tackles. Jack (sprat) slowed one of their players down with a crunching challenge and Jordan did his best to keep the right winger quiet.
Half Time Halesworth 1 – 2 Sax Sports
The second half started and we were looking comfortable even though as we expected the home team came at us to try and get something out of the game and their pressure led to them getting a goal back after a long ball was missed by us and squared into the area after a couple of good save and half clearances the ball fell to a Halesworth player who fired it into the net. This lifted them and 3 minutes later the same thing happened and they took the lead. The lads kept their heads and we settled down and after 5 minutes we were back to playing some good football and looking likely to be the team that got the next goal. We had to wait until the 80th minute for our equaliser and it was again set up after some good football and a good pass from Tom. Sam (I miss the easy ones) Last got the ball wide right and broke into the box and scored an excellent goal of the underside of the crossbar, The keeper had no idea where it was before it was in the back of the net. We played the rest of the game out with some hard work and a few more game saving tackles form Kurt and an interesting challenge from Jack that is he had got wrong would have seen him sent off but he got it right so no harm done. Harry Green thought he was going to win the game when he saw the goal open up in front of him from 25 yards out, In his head all he saw was a Ronaldo style shot in our eyes we saw a Ronnie style shot.
We come away from this game with a point and a lot of positives. The Team spirit we are getting is making the games much more enjoyable, we are scoring goals and making lots of chances, Heads don’t drop when the other teams score. We have players to cover injuries etc. The feel of the whole team is making it a pleasure to be with on a Saturday again and if we keep improving as we have the last few weeks sooner or later we are going to batter a team.
UP THE SAX
