A bright and warm day, although the very strong wind blowing down the hill was going to make playing tough today. Also with four regular players missing we had to draft in Ben, and Luke was called on again for his second ever game.
The Wolves opted to play up hill into the wind in the first half. Together with the unfamiliar formation this made it really tough and the Hawks dominated the first 15 minutes and kept Cole, Luke, Tom and Nathan very busy. They had a shot into the side netting after 5 minutes and Cole also had to make a couple of good saves. The Wolves had one chance following a good Luke tackle and clearance upfield to Dylan who put Ben clear but the shot went just wide. Tom and Nathan made some great tackles leading to a Hawks corner midway through the half. Nathan cleared the first effort but the second corner hit the front post (was the ball ever in play?) and fell kindly to a Hawks player who just had to tap in for the first goal. 1-0
The Hawks were defending and attacking en masse and as they tired some space was opening up behind them. A quick, long throw in from Tom put Dylan clear and he calmly slotted home the equaliser 4 minutes later: 1-1
With a few minutes of the half remaining Ben found Dylan wide on the right with a good pass and as the goalie ran out to intercept the cross the ball went in off his back 1-2
Half time 1-2
The first half had been hard work into the wind and with no subs the boys needed the half time break for a quick recharge. Going downhill now the Wolves started playing some much better football. Jacob won a corner from the re start and Dylan put in a super ball which found Jacob at the back post. His shot was fired in and looked to be clearly over the line but the ref gave the benefit of the doubt to the Hawk’s GK as he tried to scoop it out (goal line technology!!).
With Ben moving into a more central midfield role Tom, Nathan and Luke were getting a bit more time to deal with the Hawks attacks and make better clearances forward. Dylan and Jacob were now getting more space and working really well together in attack with some lovely passing moves.
The third goal came from another great Dylan corner. The wind was holding the ball up in the air which meant that Dylan’s corners were dropping into the danger area and Ben fired home from just inside the penalty spot. 1-3.
Dylan got his hat trick from a great long pass from Jacob that put him in behind the Hawks defence and after toying with the Hawk’s GK he slipped it into the bottom corner: 1-4
The Hawks used their many substitutes well and as the Wolves began to tire they started to look dangerous. Their lively number 7 was causing a few problems up the left wing and he scored their second with a powerful shot 10 minutes into the half. 2-4
Cole was called on to make another couple of great saves as the Hawks pressurised our tiring defence and both Luke and Tom made some last gasp tackles. The whole Hawks team were now attacking and after saving well with his feet, Cole quickly picked out Dylan with a super pass which lead to his 4th goal: 2-5
With 5 minutes left the Hawks pushed everything at our valiant defense, who despite being dead on their feet, wouldn’t give any quarter. In the final minutes another quick, long throw in from Tom put Dylan one on one with the GK and he was never going to miss today! 2-6.
A really great, battling performance today against a Hawks team who were better than the scoreline suggested. The defence were massive with Cole back to his best and Ben slotted in well supporting Dylan and Jacob from midfield. Luke gained in confidence and made some valuable interceptions.
Quick thinking and great distribution from the back created 4 of today’s goals when we had been under considerable pressure and we adapted very well to the conditions.
