The game today started in broken sunshine, had rain and finished dry. The pitch was as well prepared as it always is.
Kyle won the toss and decided to change ends with Woodbridge getting the KO. Sax were on the attack straight away and Ed was unlucky to not open the scoring inside the first 10 seconds. This was a sign of things to come in the 1st half. On 4 minutes Rossi got the ball and went into the box and shot just wide, then after some good approach play sax won their 1st corner. Tom came up to take the corner and put a great ball in which we should have done better with. On 5 minutes Woodbridge had their 1st shot which Jack dealt with easily. On 8 minutes Ed was through again but unfortunately his shot went straight at the keeper. Sax were looking good all over the pitch and playing as well as they have for a long time. On 9 minutes Woodbridge got their 1st corner of the game but it was easily dealt with by the Sax lads. Every time Woodbridge got the ball the Sax lads were closing down and hassling to win the ball back. The Woodbridge players looked good but Sax were more than a match for them. On 13 minutes Sax got another corner and the shot from it went just over the bar. 4 minutes later another corner for Sax with Finchy and Sam coming up causing chaos in the Woodbridge box. The Woodbridge keeper made a good save to keep it at 0-0. Sax were looking the most likely to score with the midfield working hard in front of defence when Woodbridge had the ball. Woodbridge got away but the Woodbridge striker was put under pressure by Finchy and Kris and his shot went wide. From Jack's kick the Sax lads forced a corner and Tom came up from the back to put another great ball in, with the ball bouncing around in the box Kyle smashed it into the net and the Sax lads deservedly took the lead. The midfield were working hard with Fish winning balls all over the place and keeping Woodbridge out. If they did get through jack and the back four dealt with everything really well. On 26 minutes the ball was played wide to Rossi who beat a couple of players and put in a ball to Connor who screamed at Jake who had replaced George to leave it and he put it into the bottom corner to make it 2-0. The half finished with Sax looking really good and a couple more shots going just wide. Ed was having a great game with the free role he was given and putting players under pressure all over the pitch.
HALF TIME SAX 2 - 0 WOODBRIDGE
Woodbridge came out in the 2nd half full of energy and took the game to Sax and it was going to be the turn of Sax to defend and they were coping well from the start. Jack got the ball out to ease a bit of the pressure and Connor shot just over. We had a couple of minutes of pressure and Ed played a good ball in to Jake but the Woodbridge defence dealt with it and cleared the ball to midfield. The Woodbridge players got the ball into the strikers and Jack made a great save to keep our 2 goal cushion. On 8 minutes Woodbridge got a free kick and the defence dealt with it again. Sax had a few minutes of pressure with the midfield working hard and Kris and Tom getting forward when they could. On 16 minutes Jack made another good save and was commanding his area well. Ed had another shot go wide on 18 but Woodbridge were looking really good and the defence were going to have their work cut out. The next few minutes were evenly matched with both teams working hard to cancel each other out. Zach came on for Connor and his 1st touch was a hard hit in the ribs but he stayed up and done well. On 27 Jack pulled off a great save down to his left to put the ball out for a corner and he claimed the ball from the corner to keep the score at 2-0. Woodbridge kept going but the defence stayed strong. Jack again made another save on 33, it was as hard as he has had to work this season and earned him man of the match with Ed not far behind him. Sax got a corner on 35 and with the ball going out of play the ref blew the whistle.
2-0 to Sax was a great result and all the boys gave 100% like they were asked before the game. Sam made some vital challenges through the game, Kris was strong as ever, Tom played his heart out and his corners were dangerous, Finchy was calm and steady. Fish was all over the place breaking up the play. Jake and Zach done some good work when they came on. George was having a good game until he got a knock and Rossi was doing all his usual tricks to cause the Woodbridge lads problems. Connor scored another good goal, Ed turned up all over the place to cause problems and Jack had a great 2nd half to just edge MOM.
Well done lads 16 points clear at the top. We only need 1 more win to win the championship but have another really tough game next week. The semi of the cup. If we play like today we have we have a good chance of getting to the final.
See you Thursday
David
