With the main pitches waterlogged our game was switched to the smaller 6 a-side pitches for what promised to be a tough game against one of the two teams that beat us last season.
The Eagles were well placed in the league in 4th and like us had been playing against the better teams. Last year they had steamrollered us, scoring 3 goals in the first 10 minutes and eventually winning 4-2. We knew that their finishing was clinical as we had had far more chances to score than them last year but, while our shots were wayward, they found the back of the net almost every time they shot.
We started defensively with Jacob and Dylan pushing forward and the Wolves dominated possession with some good movement and passing. Dylan had a shot go wide after 2 minutes and Tom had a long range shot hit the cross bar.
The Eagles were getting everyone behind the ball in their penalty area and were relying on their extremely skilful striker to break away on his own. For most of the half Tom, Sam, William and Nathan were cutting out any danger but on the odd occasion that their Number 9 did get free, Cole made some great saves. After 13 minutes however their striker raced from one end of the pitch to the other, skipping past three of our defenders and placing the ball smartly out of Cole’s reach: 0-1.
The Wolves kept on attacking, trying to breach the massed defence and Dylan had a shot go just over the bar before a great passing move between Charlie and Jacob ended with Dylan’s shot being saved by the excellent Eagles’ GK. We were getting no luck at all; even the blocked shots were rebounding behind the players following in and at half time the score remained 0-1.
At half time we spoke about the need for patience and passing the ball behind the defence and within a minute some good passes between Ollie and Dylan resulted in a great shot from Jacob going just wide. A minute later and Dylan got the deserved equaliser with a powerful shot from outside the area: 1-1
The Eagles were now forced to push forward and the game was end to end with some great battles in midfield involving Sam, Tom, Ollie and Jacob. The Eagles managed to get the ball into our penalty area and with several players around the ball there was a soft clearance out to an Eagles player in midfield. No one chased out to close him down and he whacked the ball back (it wasn’t a shot) and it went high over everyone’s head and just squeezed in under the cross bar – fluke goal of the season! It was disappointing especially as we had drilled into the defence to shield the ball in these situations until Cole could grab it: 1-2
The rest of the game saw the Wolves dominate and the Eagles defend en masse. There was some great passing that created chances and also some impatient solo efforts that sapped everyone’s energy. The shots were flying in from all angles and as in the first half none of the rebounds from blocks or saves fell to a Wolves player
With a minute left to go Nathan broke forward with some good interplay involving Jacob and Ollie and his great shot was superbly saved by their GK. For the first time in the game the ball rebounded kindly to a Wolves player and Ollie made no mistake burying it in the back of the net for the more than deserved equaliser: 2-2
The Eagles were now desperate for the final whistle and the Wolves were the only ones who were going to win today but just ran out of time. A great game for any neutrals but also a game we could and should have won.
Thanks once again for everyone’s effort and support this year with the team. We’ve had some fantastic matches and the boys have deserved all their success. Happy Christmas to all!!
