| Match Report |
South 4s lined up today against a mature Mansfield side who has just a couple of juniors - more of that later!
South had a huge amount of possession in the first half with quite a few opportunities to score.
About 15 minutes in, South were awarded a penalty corner which was injected by James F and dispatched into the centre of the goal by Ken S. 1:0 South
A few forays into the South half saw Mansfield only getting the ball into the D on a very few occasions but they were dealt with well by Oscar and Dylan in defence.
Their odd penalty corners were snuffed out by our own gazelle Graham M running out.
South’s midfield created a lot of opportunities to take the ball forwards and James F, Norman B and Adam H’s high work rate enabled South to mount attack after attack.
Dan P’s dogged strength saw some fantastic passes into dangerous areas leading to several scoring opportunities. Jake had a chance on the far post but the speed and direction of the cross, coupled with the surprise at their keeper’s missing it meant it wasn’t converted. As always - if you’re in the right places as Jake was, the chances will come.
Another penalty corner was awarded to South and following another great injection, Ken struck at goal only to clatter the post. There could have been an opportunity to finish it off as the ricochet came back fast but the assumption it had gone in prevented a reaction.
More opportunities came for South, one of which earned Ken the DoD for thinking he was in goal for the opposition and stopping, with his chest, a really great back stick heft clearly destined for the top right corner of their goal. Oscar came on up front for him for the last five minutes of the first half and made some really good attacking moves.
Stan, who had been playing really well took an enforced rest with a muscle injury but returned in the second half to continue his brilliant receiving of the ball from fast passes.
The half-time team talk was peppered with “what could have beens” and we started the second half with the objective of adding to our goal tally.
This wasn’t immediately delivered as Mansfield started to probe our defence leading to the concern they would grab a goal.
This is exactly what they did following an attack which pulled our defence wide of the goal and one of their youngsters sweeping the ball into the goal to make it 1:1.
Some further attacking moves saw Zak and Jake releasing the ball well to a well positioned Stan who was unfortunate not to add to the score line.
Flurries of half stick tackles were mounted by our midfield and defence on the skilful, slippery youngster who was capable of holding the ball. Thankfully South didn’t get punished as his pathway was continually blocked until he came up against the wall of South’s Grahams in defence.
South were determined not to let points fall through their hands and mounted many attacks on the oppositions goal.
A couple of penalty corners were secured by excellent pressure in their D - one of which was fed to Zak who didn’t get proper contact on the ball.
With just three minutes on the clock, South won another penalty corner which was injected to Ken who drew their runners and slipped the ball to Zak on his left who, with absolutely no doubt, received it and slotted it beautifully into Mansfield’s goal - his first goal for South.
2:1 to South who were then were in uncharted territory running down the clock.
The final whistle saw South 4s taking 3 points and some determined performances from the game.
Thanks to Simon R for stepping in to keep in goal in Fraser’s enforced rest and to Ben and Elliot for umpiring.
|