Hi all,
What a fantastic game today, just what everyone needed after a turbulent week. It was great to see the boys enjoying their football, and the scoreline showed it! All of the boys played really well, and there was a really refreshing team spirit. We dominated the whole match, but Bampton to their credit never let their heads go down and never gave up – the fact that Iwan got man of the match showed how much pressure they did apply.
The first 5 minutes of the match saw a strong Viking assault on the Bampton goal with numerous shots from Sam, Oscar and Ollie all being saved or just going wide. Nothing would go in, and then Bampton caught us on the break and we needed Iwan to make the first of his many great saves to keep the scoreline 0-0. On 10 minutes, Sam took the ball on a lovely run and sidefooted a nice curling ball past the keeper to open the scoring. We continued to apply great pressure and soon had another great chance but the Bampton goalie bravely dived on the ball as Oscar tried to go around him. Jamie was next to have a shot, but it went just wide and then Luke stepped up and hit a great ball to make it 2-0. The Bampton keeper continued to make some excellent saves as Sam hit shot after shot, with one eventually hitting the back of the net after a scramble in their area. HT 3-0
Bampton came out and tested Iwan immediately from the kick off, but ‘safe hands’ was in town and made two excellent saves in the first few minutes of the second half. Charlie started to see a lot more of the ball and put a long range shot just wide and then had another really solid shot saved. We continued to dominate and Ollie added the next goal with a lovely looping shot over the keeper. Bampton, to their credit, never let their heads go down and applied pressure whenever they had possession. With great defensive work from Conner, Tom, Lewis and Adam (who had made some excellent headers) we kept Bampton at bay until eventually a strong shot, initially saved by Iwan, but spilled, allowed them to claw a goal back to make it 4-1. We responded immediately with an excellent long range goal from Luke and another from Sam to complete his hat-trick. On 22 minutes Oscar put in a great corner which Luke got on the end of to also complete his hat-trick and bring the scoreline to 7-1. Ollie, as ever, chased every ball and closed down their players whenever they had possession. In the final few minutes the ball fell to Tom who struck a long looping ball into the back of the net to make it 8-1. We played great football until the final whistle, with Adam just putting a shot wide in the final seconds. FT 8-1 a well-deserved win for Vikings.
Superb work boys, you all played excellently today. There was more communication and great desire. When we made the space there was some lovely, creative passing, great movement and some excellent goals. Onwards and upwards.
Cheers
Jon
