Report

On our final game of the season, we made the short trip to Scat to play Sporting Colts in our 3rd league cup final for a 3rd year running. On a windy May morning it was clear from the off that we would need to keep the ball on the floor to gain any early advantage.

With Tom still struggling with his knee, Jack started at right back with Owen & Evo as the standard central pairing with Masher as usual lining up at left back. Midfield saw a small change out wide with Sam T startling wide left Matty wide right but the middle 3 who have provided much of the impetus for the season getting the chance to continue to impress and finally Liam started up front against his old club. The early stages saw us have the slope and the little bit of the cross wind helping us, mostly with all the good work coming down the right from Jack & Matty, plus when the opportunity presented Aidan and Harry bombing on to support Liam down that side. We did create a couple of half chances but nothing to clear cut but we certainly were pleased from the sidelines in the way that the boys started. We did though just make one slight change with Matty & Sam swapping wings and the change worked virtually straight away with Sam beating his man, then producing a Beckham esk cross in to the box evading their keeper and finding Liam to make it 1-0. We continued to press well and the game plans had worked well, but as expected Sporting Colts came back into it as Masher & Evo combined well to stop their winger from creating too much carnage. This took us into the break at 1-0.

At half time we changed ploy a little and now asked the boys to press high up the pitch as now with them having the slope we didnt want to be having to continually face long balls. With this in mind Sam Y came onto the right and Hamish came on up top. The change in tatics suited the opposition who were starting to string passes together through our midfield and it resulted in Sporting Colts grabbing a deserved equaliser. Being honest I feared for the boys then as now with their tails up the pressure didnt relent, but the boys then started to put life and body on the line as block after block and tackle after tackle created some barrier for George, who as usual when asked dealt with everything with superb handelling. With all the changes probably taking its toll, we were now back to near enough the 11 that started the game and it was from here where we grabbed the game back from Colts. The passing seemed to return and something that we continually ask the boys to do more of "ball retention" certainly was working and this allowed us to apply waves of attacks ourselves. We knew though that it would take something special to win it for either team as both defences were detrmined not to conceed, but luckily for us it was Aidan who gave us that extra bit of quality smashing home from 30 yards, in the wind making the ball move around which proved too much for the colts keeper. With Colts quickly now changing their shape Liam exploited a bit of extra space, gambled on a bouncing ball before a trademark finish from the corner of the penalty area rifled into the side of the net to seal the game and our 1st league cup.

Boys this year has been remarkable, we set you the challenge of improving on last season and you have done that. Starting with the summer tournaments you obviously got the winning bug, playing great football along the way you reached a County Final, won the league and the league cup. Next year though will be even more challenging now as every team will target us next season as we have done with Ellesmere this so will come up against teams who will be stronger and more determined. Congratulations though boys on your deserved success, the thing that has impressed me most is your closeness as a team and todays result proved it, on the pitch you battled together and off the pitch you celebrated together with Owen probably winning the award for most excited captain of the day. Enjoy the rest now before we travel the country for a few tournaments