Sunday 4 March 2012

Babworth 3 (0) - (2) 3 Blues

Blues Scorers:

Nathan: 2

Liam S: 1

Player of the Match: Alex

Linesman: Mr C Byrne

On a very cold and wet Sunday morning the Blues took a squad of 10 to the home of Babworth Rovers for an away league fixture. The squad size was 9 - 30 seconds before kick off but Alex arrived in the nick of time after his dad got lost en route! Matty, Jordan, Adam, Jack, Steven, Alex, Mark, Nathan, Liam F and Liam S (c). Max had decided to hang up his Sunday morning footie boots and Tom went down with an overnight illness. Joe had been ill all weekend and Jamie had been unable to shake off an ankle injury sustained in a school match earlier in the week.

The Blues began the match kicking downhill and conceded a penalty early in the game. Matty must have put the spot kicker off because his shot cleared the cross bar by some margin. After that the Blues began to get into their stride with some lovely flowing football and the hosts couldn't get any where near Matty's goal. The visitors took the lead when some enterprising play in the home 18 yard box resulted in a goal for Nathan. 1-0 to the Blues.

A short time later the Blues extended their lead when a low and powerful Nathan corner kick found its way into the home goal following a mix up between defender and keeper. It perhaps should have been an own goal but Nathan was credited in the end. 2-0 to the Blues.

The visitors missed a glorious chance to put themselves out of sight when Steven played Liam S in with a wonderful ball. Liam rounded the keeper and hit a side footed shot toward the open net - but credit to the home defender for spotting the danger and dropping back to clear his line.

Half time score 2-0 to the Blues.

An intervention by the referee gave the hosts hope when he signalled a penalty for a perfectly legitimate challenge by Jack where he won the ball. This time the spot kicker made no mistake placing the ball to Matty's left. 2-1 to the Blues.

The visitors were able to extend their lead with the best goal of the game - Liam S hit a thunderbolt of a shot from well outside the 18 yard box that sailed into the top right corner of the home net drawing gasps of appreciation from all sides of the pitch. The keeper was completely beaten. 3-1 to the Blues.

A blatant push in Liam F's back displacing him off the ball resulted in a second undeserved goal to the hosts. How the referee missed the foul was beyond me since everyone else around the pitch seemed to see it. 3-2 to the Blues.

The hosts equalised late in the game with something of a fluke that was not unlike the first Blues goal when a low corner evaded everyone to sneak into the vistors net. Final score 3-3.

The match assessors comprised Mesdames Swaby, Byrne and Mulligan with asistance from Adam's younger sister. The ladies emphasised all the Blues players were worthy winners of the Player of the Match but in the established tradition where an individual must be selected they highlighted the role of the 3 amigos - Adam, Jack and Steven who played in an unfamiliar back line of three. They all took to their task like a duck to water and here was certainly plenty of H2O falling from the sky! The winner was Alex who had the home defender tied up in knots at times. He contributed to some clever play down the left side opening the hosts defence up time and again. Well done Alex.

The odds were certainly stacked against the Blues with only a 10 man squad but they set about their task in impressive style from the off. One could only wonder they would tire as the match progressed but that never happened. To a man they defended as a team and played some clever passing football to retain possession and dominate the game - particularly during the first half. I thought the referee generally had a fair game but you rely on the man in the middle to make the correct decision at key points in a match - unfortunately for whatever reason that just did not happen today. Despite the victory being 'stolen' from them the Blues can hold their heads high from todays performance - particularly given the awful weather and the disadvantage of numbers. The communication on the pitch was wonderful to hear and overall there were many positives to take into the next match.

Training during the forthcoming week will be restricted to Thursday 8 March 2012 at Hayfield 8.30pm - 9.30pm. We have no match next weekend so we will take a break from Saturday training on 10 March 2012. Our next game is a home fixture against Ordsall Rangers scheduled for Sunday 18 March 2012.

Keep alert for further announcements.