The game today was played on a dry morning with the wind increasing as the game went on, but it was dry and not too cold.
The game started well with both teams playing well and taking time to try and work each other out. Sax won a corner on 3 minutes and Ed went out to take the corner and almost scored straight from the kick. The ball was half cleared by Felixstowe & Walton and it came out to Fish, he took a touch and hit a great shot that the keeper got down to and pushed it away. Both teams were playing well and the Sax defence had to work hard to keep Felixstowe & Walton out. Ryan and Ed were also giving the Felixstowe & Walton defence a hard time and the lads at the back for Felixstowe & Walton certainly noticed Ryan who was putting himself about. On 8 minutes Felixstowe & Walton won the ball and worked some space for a shot. The ball moved about in the air and Jack done well to get behind it. Felixstowe & Walton had another good attack and Jack again showed his quality when he came out and won the ball and let the striker know he was not a push over. The next few minutes both teams had plenty of possession but could not make the breakthrough. Connor was getting loads of space but could not find the final ball but was doing well to stop Felixstowe & Walton play down the side. On 15 minutes Felixstowe & Walton got a free kick that Jack dealt with easily and played out to midfield. Kyle took a knock in the face and had to come off to get the blood and snot cleaned off, a great job (it tasted horrible). A switch was made with Rossi coming out of defence swapping with Tom who dropped back to his normal position. On 18 minutes Jack was back in action again after some good play from Felixstowe & Walton and Jack pulled of another amazing save. Over the next 2 minutes Jack was in action twice more and he kept the boys in the game with good keeping. On 21 minutes Kyle came off to give his ankle a rest and Ben went on with his usual enthusiasm. In the 29th minutes the boys got the ball and worked it through midfield and out to Rossi. He picked out Ryan who beat 3 defenders and put a left foot shot past the keeper to make it Sax 1 - 0 Felixstowe & Walton. The rest of the half carried on with both teams working hard but Sax just edging it. Ed had been given a free roll and was helping out all over the pitch. The Half time whistle went and we were happy to come in at 1 - 0.
The 2nd half started well for Felixstowe & Walton, they had changed their system to try and get around the solid Sam & Finchy. Kris was going to have a very tough half at left back. The boys worked hard to keep the Felixstowe & Walton team out and were waiting to get a break. It came on the 52nd minute with a long kick out from Jack, a touch from Ryan on to Ben who poked the ball through to Ed who slotted it under the keeper to make it Sax 2 - 0 Felixstowe &Walton. George came on for Connor who had done well for the 55 minutes he was on. Jack got the ball in his hands, played a high ball that Ryan brought down well, he flicked it on to Rossi but the flag went up and a free kick was given to Felixstowe & Walton. They played it long and the striker beat Finchy and put it past Jack. Sax 2 - 1 Felixstowe & Walton. On 70 minutes Ryan came off so that Ollie could go on to help out in midfield as Felixstowe & Walton were still causing all sorts of problems down our left. We stopped them playing a bit but when they did get through Jack stopped everything and made it look easy. Ed had a shot that came back off the keeper and George was there to knock in the rebound but the flag went up, goal denied. 2 minutes before the end Ollie got forward, hit a shot that just looped up and hit the bar. The ref blew the whistle and sax took the 3 points after a hard game against a very good team. The ref had an excellent game and we would be happy to see him back again this season.
All the boys stepped their games up for today but Jack deservedly got the man of the match for his performance today. It was hard to pick out another player as they all did well and will need to play like that again next week when we visit Tornadoes at Greshams.
Many thanks to Jo and Anita for supplying refreshments and everyone else who helped in setting up barrier packs and goals etc. Also a special mention for Jack and Ben who marked the pitch out on Friday after school.
Well done
