Once again we were excited at the prospect of trying to retain our clean sheet at home and our players certainly didn't disappoint on a weekend where a number of games were called off due to the weather. We were fortunate that our new ground has been able to withstand the rain and that the match could go ahead.
We started off a little cautiously and found ourselves on the back foot straight from the kick off with Eagle pressing forward and immediately attacking our goal. We needn't have worried with Jake being on his usual top form and commanding his area whenever the ball came close. Fortunately though, they didn't get many more chances during the game as we settled down very quickly and went straight back at them. The first 10 minutes was back and forth and although we did have slightly the upper hand, no-one was able to break the deadlock despite some very good attacking play with both Joe and Katie pushing hard at the opposition. Katie came close on one occasion and both Joe and Tom also saw efforts go wide or deflected by the defence.
Every time that Eagle was able to clear the ball into our area both Dom and Dan sent it straight back at them with some great tackling and excellent clearances. Tom covered a lot of ground during the match and after playing a very good attacking 15 minutes he went off for a rest before coming back on in the second half to help his teammates out and cover for Dan in defence who also needed a much deserved rest. Ben came on for Jacob and added an injection of pace which saw him also coming very close to scoring not long after entering the field. Thomas also entered the field and put in some excellent runs forward and some great passes as well as a couple of decent attempts on goal.
Joe suddenly switched gears and burst through the defence after knocking the ball forward himself and steaming towards the goal to let off a shot that no-one was going to stop. Having found his confidence it only took him 2 minutes to do exactly the same again and slot another one past the Eagle keeper. Another 2 minutes of attacking play saw Ethan push a trademark beautiful defence splitting through-ball past the opposition for Joe to run onto and fire a wobbly shot along the ground which the keeper was unable to get hold of and that unfortunately had him in tears.
Joe came off for a rest and Kurtis then moved into an unfamiliar striking position, making great headway in the process. He chased every ball and didn't let up despite being up against some players who were a good foot taller than him! After a good spell in the first half Jacob came back on and clearly showed that he'd been listening to us with some excellent uses of his shoulder and holding up the ball on a number of occasions before releasing it forward to the strikers. He also made some great runs forward during the match and some really good attempts on goal, showing that his own confidence is clearly building. Coupled with some trademark long throws he gained himself the coaches’ man of the match award today for the improvement and effort he put into the game. It's worth noting that both Katie and Joe also came close to receiving this as well for their efforts during the match.
Katie came back onto the pitch and amazingly was unable to score despite some really great runs forward and battling like a champion to get past the defenders on more than on occasion. She linked up really well with Kurtis during the match and was very unlucky not to grab a goal. Dan returned to the match again and showed us great improvement with his reading of the game and the timing of his tackles to put in another solid session on the pitch, Whilst Dom was just solid for the entire game. Eagle have a couple of quick attacking players but between them our defenders were up to each challenge and on the rare occasion that Eagle did manage to squeeze past them, Jake was just top class in goal and stopped anything that came anywhere near his area.
Joe popped back onto the pitch for the last 5 minutes and carried on where he left off by terrorizing the Eagle defence with some very quick runs and great attacking play. One minute from time Ben launched a beautiful through ball which Joe leapt onto the end of and slammed into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the match! Eagle did put some pressure on during the final minute of the game but we defended to the hilt to retain our zero conceded goals at home record! (Scored 22 and conceded zero at home!!)
We were pleased again to receive some good compliments from the opposition about our game play and the way that we managed to hold our shape for most of the match and we couldn't be more proud of how the team is working together to get the win. It was also great to see Travis turn up to watch the match and support his team mates despite being unable to play due to injury. Hold on in there Trav, only one more match to miss as long as you look after that knee!
Big thanks to everyone who helped take down the equipment at the end of the match and to help us pack it all away as well as the excellent support from all of the parents. A very well deserved Parents player of the match went to Joe for a solid performance through the whole game!
