| Match Report |
A beautiful autumnal morning saw Vale make his debut and, because of Rhys failing to make it, he was thrown in at the deep end. Credit to him, as it is a big ask to play a full 50 minutes on a big pitch without having played in a match before and he did great. It is a learning curve for all of us and today’s lesson is that the slope on the pitch makes a big difference and the fact that Thurlow used it better than EYFC was the defining factor. Otherwise there wasn’t much between the teams, although we need to work on our mindset and think more attacking. The first quarter (uphill) saw some good defending, although the team couldn’t repel all of the attacks and Thurlow were able to twice find the back of the net. The second quarter (another lesson - ask the referee if we will be swapping ends each quarter or at half time!) saw much more attacking endeavour and Patrick was a whisker away from getting on the end of two or three Albie crosses that whistled across the face of the Thurlow goal. Mia was making jinking runs like a winger of old. A strong defensive partnership of Sam and Frankie was keeping any Thurlow attacks to a minimum and, in truth, Alex in goal didn’t have much to do in a quarter that ended in a stalemate. Again we turned around and had to play uphill, but the team were growing into the game and the three goals scored by Thurlow flattered them, despite Patrick making a couple of good saves. Onto the final quarter and we tried to field our strongest team to mount a comeback. This season, with the larger pitch, the players are beginning to gravitate towards certain positions and partnerships, with Sam and Frankie again strong in defence and Alex controlling the game from central midfield. Patrick and Albie provided the attacking threat and it was the latter that managed to get a consolation. In truth it was a goalkeeping error, but it was due reward for excellent endeavour showed by the whole team throughout. For the second game in a row we have lost two quarters, won one and drawn the other. With a full squad and a bit of luck I can see a win on the horizon. Again, the player of the match could have been given to any of them and Albie and Mia can feel particularly hard done by that they didn’t receive it, but it was given to Frankie. Well done everyone.
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