Men's 2nd XI Vs Burton 4

A nice wet day greeted a depleted SNHC 2’s side for an afternoon pushback at Shobnal Leisure Centre.  Availability for the away game was at an all time low with last minute dropouts not helping but yet again the club had worked hard to get 12 players ready to play. A huge thank you to Tony, Fraser and Max stepping up from the 4’s  Tom and Adam up from the 3’s.  

The game started with a quick push from Barton testing out young defence as we tried to set ourselves in the rain. We held firm with Will R working well with Tony to get the possession back. Once we’d settled South dominated the first half with crisp passes and some great running from Kai and Robbie, Alex opened the scoring which gave South a much needed boost quickly followed by a second. South settled into the shoulder barges and stick tackles playing the better game and keeping tempers under control. Half time whistle went with a relieved South walking off 2-0 up.  

The second half started with what can only be described as a disaster for South.  Tom Cross completely missing the small child that ran through his legs to beat the usually cat-like Tommy on the near post.  The next three goals were a disappointing mix of missed fouls and bobbling balls which the South defence couldn’t do a lot about.  10 mins in and we’d conceded 4 and were looking stretched.  But the tenacity of our young lads showed with Kai constantly finding the large feet of the Barton old men pushing ever forward. We battled and Max playing down the line on his reverse to Mike slipped to Alex who slotted another one past the rather small but agile keeper for his hat-trick. We kept battling trying to find the gaps in the Burton defence despite the whistle continually blowing against us. Unfortunately a heated moment after a somewhat tasty but clean tackle found Mr Willey on the bench with 7 minutes left to play.  Alex stepped into the middle to bolster leaving a lone Mike to try and get the equaliser, we battled hard but couldn’t breach. 
Kai managed to upset the Burton defence with some great tackling causing their obnoxious fat-boy to take a seat on the bench for the rest of the game.  He should have gone a lot earlier in my opinion.  

Mr Willey back on the field entered the fray linking nicely with Kai who again managed to force the ball into the D to find MOM Robbie but he got chopped down again, fortunately the umpire did actually see this one and even blew his whistle.  A series of short corners ensued, Alex’s flick got batted down, Mike hit the keeper and Kai’s deflection got put off the back line.  Unfortunately despite a massive effort South couldn’t finish it off and the final whistle blew, Burton 4 SNHC 3.  

Again a mahoosive thank you to those that stepped up to make the game happen despite the loss you should all be proud of the way we played today.  

Let’s hope tomorrow gains us the 3 points we need to stay competitive in this league.