The final score line did not reflect the way the game was played in what was a really thrilling match today! We took the game to winwick right from the kick off and for a spell we seemed to have a good midfield battle before Jacob picked up the ball well inside our half and went on a great run, rounding a player and being chased the whole way by another before he fired a decent shot towards the opposition goal. Unfortunately it lost pace and was collected by the opposition keeper before it was cleared.
The game tussled back and forth for another minute or so before Winwick managed to sneak the ball past Jako and give themselves a lead. This was almost neutralised a minute later when our pocket rocket picked up the ball and made a fantastic run forward snaking round players and setting up Ethan for a very good shot on goal. The keeper did well to stop the shot and cleared the ball up the field. Another couple of minutes of back and forth play ensued before Hollie did exactly the same again and this time Ethan made absolutely certain that he smashed the ball into the back of the goal. 1-1 and the game was really on!
Winwick scored again just before half time when a long ball followed by a well placed pass enabled a player to sneak in behind our defence and left us exposed to a fairly simple tap in which Jake was powerless to prevent. The teams heads stayed up however and we played on strongly up to the whistle.
The second half started as vigorously as the first with some great football from both teams which made the match very entertaining for everyone, with the score remaining at 2-1 until midway through the half when Winwick were lucky to sneak another goal past us. Fair play to the team for keeping their chins up and getting stuck straight back into the match and battling as strongly as ever. Katie was very quick to capitalise on a mistake from the keeper who miskicked the ball when clearing it out of his area. She pounced on the ball and almost rammed it down his throat but instead chose to carefully slide it along the ground and past him into the net from a relatively long range strike.
The final 10 minutes of the match were even more exciting to watch with us having slightly the upper hand during open gameplay and coming close on a couple of occasions which resulted in the Winwick keeper having to make some effort in saving the ball. By our watch the referee stopped the game slightly early, and who knows what could have happened in another couple of minutes. However this game was one of the most exciting of the season for a spectator and the players all fully deserve credit for the way they presented themselves on the day.
Katie had a good solid game for the whole match and used her strength well managing to muscle her way past the opposition and sneak a few passes back and forth with Jacob who did well in his new upfield position today. She also put her rugby playing strength to good use when she delivered some lovely throw-ins up the field. Jacob made some great runs forward, passing across to Katie and trying to release her on a number of occasions, whilst also maintining his ridiculously long throws when needed! He's also been practising corner taking in training and as a result was able to deliver a beautiful cross near the end of the game which was just begging for someone to head into the back of the goal! He made way for Jyoti who came off the bench with a strong focus today and made a pure nuisance of himself up the field, making the opposition realise that he might be little but he should definitely not be under-estimated! Jyoti tussled with the Winwick defence on a number of occasions and chased every ball that went near him, earning himself a very well deserved man of the match award.
Thomas came on for Hollie midway through the first half and although he seemed a little tired at first he was soon flicking the ball from foot to foot and going forward round the opposition in an excellent overall performance. Both Ethan and Hollie also had excellent games in midfield today, putting together some really great link-up play and playing to their own individual strengths. Hollie excelled in dribbling the ball forward at her usual rocket-like speed and making it very difficult for the opposition to get the ball off her and Ethan was as consistent as ever with his sneakly tackles, whipping the ball from under the feet of Winwick and safely putting it out at other times, almost claiming the man of the match award for himself.
Dominic looked very strong again in defence today and stayed on the pitch for the whole match, chasing the ball down and covering the whole back third of the pitch to help out his team mates when called for. Good strong tackling ensured one of the Winwick players had to leave the pitch and another had to think twice about trying to take him on. He was unlucky not to score from a powerfully taken free-kick which was unfortunate to drift wide. Kyle had a generally very good game during which he tackled well throughout and fiercely at some points, making sure the ball was put out safely when needed. He swapped positions a couple of times with Alex during the game to give them both a breather. Alex himself played well whilst he was on the pitch but struggled a bit after just recovering from illness and was very sporting in telling the coaches that he was finding it hard and to let him come off. He also tried a short spell in midfield to give him some encouragement before making way for Thomas to come back onto the pitch again.
Jako in goal was as consistent as ever and as usual pulled off some great saves proving once again that he is clearly one of the best goalkeepers in the league, rarely putting a foot wrong and being unable to do anything about the goals that did sneak past him.
As usual I'd like to thank all the parents for their continued support and really getting behind the team and a huge thankyou to all our players for the great effort they put in. Thanks also to Winwick for a very sporting display and good friendly game.
