| Match Report |
A cold but extremely sunny afternoon saw South 4s line up against Leicester Westleigh on their pitch.
The brief Captain Ken received before the toss was to win it - he failed and we lined up looking into the low lying very bright sun.
South started the game with 10 players as those playing earlier football matches were pushed to get to the game on time.
Shortly after the start, Max came sprinting onto the field and we were up to 11 - a short while after that Fletcher arrived when expected. Thanks to their parents for delivering them as soon as possible.
Our team, which included Craigs Bingham and Lawson to whom we are grateful for supporting the 4s.
The first half was fairly balanced with some great play from the youngsters Fletcher, Jake and Max. We shouldn’t forget the other young player - who we don’t always remember he is - Fraser played an absolute blinder again in goal.
South had chances to score from both open play and penalty corners - one of which was struck well but their high-level keeper saved it. Another opportunity found the ball slipped left to evade the keeper but with the same result. A couple more were not James’ best injections!
Despite some opportunities to break, Westleigh pushed hard and spent a lot of time in South’s half and that pressure resulted in a goal.
South made the most of having 12 players available but that gave the captain a dilemma in choosing anyone to rest as all performances were great.
The opposition scored 2 more goals into the second half.
A slight adjustment of the positioning of personnel saw opportunities increase. The excellent Fletcher had the opportunity to slide a perfect ball in to Ken who swerved their out-sliding keeper, take the ball into the D, evade an onrushing defender and score South’s only goal.
Max’s strength and Jake developing skills were great to witness.
Westleigh won a penalty corner just as the final whistle went which unfortunately they converted.
Final score 4:1 but the team’s potential, with such good young players - Max, Jake, Fletcher and Fraser, South’s future looks very bright particularly when being brought on by the more mature good role models in the team.
Thanks everyone for your excellent support in both the lead-up to, and in the game.
Special thanks to James for driving half of the team to the correct location without any detours
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