Thrapston Wolves 16 – 0 Desborough
Sweet 16 and the only thing that didn’t need washing was Cole’s clean sheet!
Conditions today were muddy and cold but at least it had stopped raining and the game was on. Today was like playing against Chelsea in the Champion’s League; every Desborough player got behind the ball and their penalty area was a wall of blue. The sticky conditions made passing tricky and the ball rarely went where the players wanted.
The Wolves attacked uphill from the off and Jacob had a header against the bar from a decent Ollie cross. Running with the ball was not an option today with the ball sticking in the mud and several Desborough players to get through. After three minutes the boys started to realise that passing into space was the way to get through the blue rearguard and Dylan got his first after Jacob played him through: 1-0
Ollie then got the second from a good Sam pass a minute later and Jacob also got off the mark after tapping in Nathan’s cross. With six minutes played the Wolves made it 4-0 when Dylan broke clear from the kick off.
Desborough did get forward when given a bit too much space but Cole cleared up well. Dylan scored his third from a long goal kick from Cole and Ollie then made it 6-0, scoring from a good Dylan pass mid way through the first half. Ollie got his hat trick a couple of minutes later, hammering home a loose ball in the area.
Dylan got his fourth after following up Nathan’s shot to tap home from close range. Just before halftime Sam deservedly got on the score sheet after playing a great pass into Jacob whose shot was deflected back into Sam’s path.
Half Time: 9-0
Nathan got his first of the season from the Wolves’ kick off. Dylan played the ball across the box to Jacob who then played it back to Nathan. Nathan made some space and fired home from just inside the box: 10-0
The Wolves then had a period of lost discipline as players got in each other’s way in and around the penalty area and could have conceded from a Desborough break. The midfield didn’t chase back as Desborough got the ball forward, leaving William isolated and he was forced to clear for a corner. Desborough played a decent ball in but Cole plucked it from the air before anyone could get to it.
The Wolves got their shape back and Dylan had a shot saved and then Sam put one wide. The Desborough GK was having problems getting his goal kicks out of the mud and, inexplicably, kept kicking them straight to Dylan of all people!! Dylan got his 5th as he powered an unstoppable shot into the top corner from one of these goal kicks: 11-0
Jacob got his second following in from another Dylan shot and then Dylan scored with a solo effort straight from the restart.
Three minutes later and Jacob got his hat trick with a decent shot into the top corner: 14-0. Tom, who had been strong in defence all match, had now pushed forward and had a chance before Dylan wrapped it up with two more; one from a Jacob pass and then another straight from a goal kick. The referee decided that that was enough and blew the final whistle with 4 minutes still to play.
Final score: 16-0
This was a difficult game to evaluate as the conditions were so poor. Desborough defended valiantly and never let their heads go down. There were some nice passing movements involving all the players and some good running into space. However we looked poor when we had too many players fighting for the ball in the box and will be punished by better teams if we leave the midfield exposed like we did at the start of the second half.
Well done though to the boys, it’s never easy against a massed defence like this and the finishing was also very good. Cole and our defence also dealt well with any Desborough moves forward.
