Today’s game was played on a nice sunny morning with the sun making the players and lino sweat for the 1st time in a few weeks.
Kyle won the toss and Sax got the KO the boys were looking a bit sluggish today and even in the warm up the passes were not as good as they usually are. Martlesham won the ball when Finchy tried to dribble out of defence but luckily the shot was easily coped with by Jack in goal, The 1st few minutes of the game were hard for the Sax boys with a much improved Martlesham team working hard and getting the ball in behind the defence but their shooting was not as good as their approach play and the ball was kept out of the net. After some good work by the defence the ball went to Jack and he played a long ball up the field which Ed controlled and smashed a shot against the bar, a couple of minutes later the ball went to Ed again and he set up Rossi to open the scoring and settle a few nerves, after some more good work by the defence the ball again came to Rossi a minute after he got the 1st and he scored again to go 2 - 0 inside 2 minutes. The next few minutes were played mainly in midfield and the Sax boys were having to work harder than they should have been as a few of them seemed to be suffering from a late night and a better team would have probably scored a couple of goals. John played a great diagonal ball in to Rossi who hit the bar with a 1st time volley the Bar and post denied us more goals this week than in the rest of the season put together. Even though mart were 2 - 0 down they didn’t let their heads drop and Tom on the right and Ollie on the left were put under constant pressure with the bombers looking to get the ball wide but they coped well with the pressure and kept the bombers out. The rest of the half was played out with Martlesham looking a good team and Karl and I waiting for half time to get the boys in for a chat and to try and wake them up a bit not all the boys were tired but about half the team were suffering and that meant the rest had to work harder to keep us going.
Half Time Martlesham 0 - 2 Sax
After a chat and a wake up at half time the lads went back on George was on to play wide right and Zach went on to play up front George followed instructions well and attacked the back post to finish a cross put in by Rossi to make it 3. The boys were starting to play a bit better and after a corner the ball dropped to Kyle who hit the ball into the net to make it 4 and make the game look safe. The boys were still not playing their best and Mart were taking advantage of this with their own hard work and we were struggling at times but the boys at the back were getting some last second tackles in to keep us in the lead. Kyle got his 2nd of the game when he was set up by Rossi who was doing well down the left but maybe holding on to the ball a bit to long at times but that is a part of his game he is improving on as we go through the season. Mart were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area and as the lads were getting sorted out the free kick was taken quickly and gave jack no chance 1 - 5. Ed played some great football and was unlucky not to score today as things were going just wide or at the keeper or the flag went up to deny him. Martlesham got through on goal and Jack made a great save to keep the score to 1 - 5. Martlesham got a corner and with a hard shot going goal wards Kyle took 1 for the team and saved it on the line with his conkers I refused to treat them so he was back on his feet and up with a slightly higher voice but ready to play on. Ed had another chance go just over and Rossi completed his hat-trick with a goal after a run down the left and a finish in the opposite corner. Martlesham scored the last goal of the game when they scored from a couple of feet out.
Final Score Martlesham 2 - 6 Sax
Credit must go to the way that Martlesham have improved but we must also have a think about how we played as too many lads had a bad day but hopefully that is a 1 off and we can go to sporting next week and pick up another 3 points towards the league title.
Well done for getting the result and hopefully we can train on Thursday night if the pitch is not too wet
David
