SUN 15 JAN 06
LONGWELL GREEN 2
FRY CLUB COLTS 2
Having
beaten this team 6-1 at home earlier this season, this was a game we felt we
could win.
Not the
best start to the game as a mix up in defence between Kyle Curtis and Craig
Francis in goal let Longwell Green in to open the scoring. Worse was to come
after 15 minutes as we conceded a sloppy second to really face an uphill
battle. Longwell Green were outplaying us and had the
wind and slope to take full advantage of their lead. However, we began to dig
in and a great chance was given to Brad Monelle who
just put his one on one shot over the bar. Now both Oli
Randall and Mo Bouaziz were beginning to take control of Midfield and from a
great through ball from Mo to Craig Andrews, his cross found Brad Monelle unmarked to pull a goal back just before half time.
We were
now on top and had the advantages of the pitch and weather in the second half
and it wasn’t too long before we again knocked on the Longwell Green door and
from a free kick just outside the box Craig Andrews curled the ball into the
top corner to level the scores. With a good 25 minutes to play we pushed
everything forward but couldn’t find the winner. Frustratingly the 50/50 balls
kept falling to the opposition and it looked very much like we wouldn’t quite
get the break we wanted. Both James Hurrell Smith and Michael Payne kept the
Longwell attack under control and whilst the crowd and Longwell players were
trying all they could to upset our focus we kept going until the final whistle
but, in the end, had to settle for a share of the points.
Understandably emotions were very high in the post match talk but upon reflection, I am sure the players will learn a lot of positives from this experience, especially as we felt we should have won.
Again
all the players played well enough to win Man of the Match this week but above
all the excitement on the pitch James Hurrell Smith quietly went about his job
efficiently to keep us in the game.
SQUAD: Craig Francis, Danny McCarthy, James
Hurrell Smith, Michael Payne, Jordan Knight, Mo Bouaziz, Dean Lapham, Kyle Curtis, James Boulton,
Oli Randall (Capt), Bradley Monelle,
Craig Andrews, Nathan Dawson