As early as the 3rd minute Lee & Jack combined to open them up but the ball was slow coming down and the chance drifted away. Two minutes later Darryl's header was crossed by Jack and Lee's cut back found Josh but his fierce drive was just wide. In the 7th minute Kim pressed in their right corner, won the ball and delivered a great cross which Ollie headed just wide. 5 minutes later Josh chested down for Jack but his snap volley caught the ball on the rise and the attempt went over. All our earlier pressure paid off when Kim won an arial battle, Jack was quickest to react and was again quickest when he netted from close range from his own saved effort to set us on the way at 1-0.
Just 2 minutes later, Kyle and Kim combined to release Ollie who slipped his marker and delivered a lovely low cross which Jack got on the end of to make it 2-0. Like last week we lost concentration from the restart, conceded a quick corner and allowed St Marys back in as Gary misjudged the flight of the ball allowing them a free header. Instructions for how to restart went out of the window and we conceded unneccssary ground and free kicks in the wrong area. Chippy was the first to react badly to the pressure and was rightly red carded for violent conduct 5 minutes before the interval. We quickly reshaped with Lee making way for another defender, Bill, and Jack pulling wide right leaving Kim as a lone front man.
We came out for the second period playing 3-5-1 and demanding extra work from everyone as well as quality in possession.Four minutes after the restart Olli delivered a quality corner and Jack rose like a salmon at the far post to bag his hat trick with a bullet header to make it 3-1. Ten minutes into the second period Josh latched onto a loose ball and unleashed an unstoppable volley - great technique but no fluke as he's done it before, 4-1 was the cushion we needed as we faced another 30 minutes of hard work. With 20 minutes on the clock Gary had a hot potato moment and in the scramble that followed they got one back to make it 4-2. Just 5 minutes later Kyle forgot that he wasn't in goal (too many joints) and they converted the direct free kick to close the gap to 4-3 with 15 minutes remaining.
With Olli restricted by a tight hammy he made way for Steve as we sought to close out the final 10 minutes - it was a battle. With 5 to go Kim pressed their centre back into a mistake and prodded the ball though to Jack who kept his composure to slot home for 5-3 - game over.
This was a throwback game as we rediscovered why we are playing and what we are all about. Hardly mentioned in the match report was Sam who's reading of the game,tackling and distribution was sheer class and Kim who showed why he is Captain with a fantastic physical performance. In every position we were quality with and without the ball.
Train in the open air next week and we'll use next Sunday's game free weekend to recover and recharge our batteries as we prepare to chase down the trophies.
