Match Report
Summary:
It was a tale of two halves for the first team last Saturday, who went into the half time break two goals down but came back to win 4-2 against a strong second side.
Having fielded a much-changed 11 against Liobians the previous week, many regular faces returned to the line-up but they struggled to gel together in a woeful first half display.
Thankfully, the lads managed to get their act together and goals from Martin, Newton, Shields and Wise gave them another win against the second team.
Squad:
Bagpuss, Egan, Doherty, Duffy, Newton, Cooke, Wise, Gendall, Mornington, Martin, Shields, Holt.
First Half:
The fact that the match even went ahead is testament to those at the club who look after the pitch. Heavy rain the previous days meant it was touch and go whether it would go ahead and was only given the green light an hour before kick off.
The first team started brightly and despite the conditions, actually knocked the ball around quite well, but without causing the seconds much trouble.
Against the run of play, the seconds took the lead when a cross into the box proved to be so good that it flew straight into the net.
The first team failed to react and their dominance in possession started to dwindle and the seconds began to grow in confidence. They doubled their lead soon afterwards when a cross to the edge of the box was caught on the volley and trickled into the corner.
A Bagpuss hand was unable to keep it out and suddenly the firsts were facing the prospect of having to score at least three goals to win the game.
The firsts were getting into some promising positions in the final third, but the final ball was lacking and there was a real lack of chances created. Holt had an effort from distance which flew wide but other than that it was an easy 45 minutes for the second’s goalkeeper.
Second Half
It would have been easy to completely change the formation or approach given such a lacklusture first half display, but just a few tweaks seemed to make the difference.
Holt was now operating from the right, with Shields through the middle. The switch paid off when Holt controlled the ball up in the box, faked a cross and when he brought the ball back inside was tripped by the defender.
A penalty to the first team which was scored by Martin and suddenly they were back in the game.
It was a case of deja-vu when the firsts got their equaliser. Newton, not to be outdone by the second’s opening goal, managed to score the exact same goal with a cross from wide which floated into the net.
It was a brilliant start to the second half and suddenly the firsts were on the front-foot and looking to go ahead for the first time in the game.
They managed to do just that when a shot was spilled by the keeper and Shields was on hand to pounce and tap in the rebound.
The firsts were now completely on top and looking to finish off the game. A goal mouth scramble saw the ball cleared off the line as far as Wise on the edge of the box, who finished high into the net to make it 4-2.