Stratton started very strong passing the ball around very well which lead to the first shot, forcing Joe to push the ball onto his post. "Scary moment" At this point I knew it was going to be one of those games, you know, end to end football. Again Stratton found some room to play their passing game and again the shot, which Joe deals with very well. Then Bassett started to play football, and a lovely weighted ball from Sam found Callum down the middle, Callum shoots, but it′s saved.
Stratton again and again tested Bassett′s defence of Scott, Oliver and Jack who in the main were very solid. Specifically when playing against the Stratton "giants", what have their kids been eating? Stratton then break through the heart of Bassett′s defence from the half way line, Joe faces a one to one with the sun in his eyes, the ball is passed underneath Joe and rolls in the goal. Stratton takes the lead.
Bassett come straight back at Stratton down the right with Sam, Sam found some space and crossed the ball in front of the Stratton goal, Stratton clear to give Bassett our first corner. A good in swinging corner by Tyler forces Stratton′s goal keeper to punch the ball over the cross bar, I must admit I thought it was in! Stratton clear their lines placing pressure onto our defence, Scott clears the ball passed the half way line allowing Sam to run down the right, passed one defender, then the cross, in position "A", this gave Tyler an open goal, however on his weaker right side, Tyler could not quite connect with the ball, and the ball went wide. Again Stratton break, and again Joe is forced to make a good save by diving onto the ball in front of the on coming forward. I must say that the first half was good to watch and it was great to see Callum working hard and dropping into defence to help out when needed. First half ended 1-0 to Stratton.
The second half started in the same vain as the first with end to end football by both teams. Stratton was sticking to their passing strategy which they excelled at placing pressure on Bassett. Then the break, Callum runs through the middle passed two defenders, then strikes the ball goal bound, Stratton′s goal keeper punches the ball away into the path of Sam who volleys the ball goal bound, and it hits the cross bar. We have been so unlucky….
Stratton then pushed back hard at Bassett and missed an open goal, maybe the luck was turning? "Dream on."Again Stratton found some space allowing the shot to be made, Joe saves by catching the ball. The ball is cleared but not to the correct team, Stratton come straight back, forcing Joe to make the save again. Josh found some space in the middle of defence and passed to Ben who managed to play the ball around two defenders, then the cross in front of goal. But there was no Bassett players in the box to take the pass. Stratton were playing the better football and you just knew that the second was not far away. Sure enough Stratton scored two goals within 10 minutes giving Bassett a large hill to climb to come back into this game. Sam did find some space on the left which allowed a shot at distance but this was caught easily by the Stratton goal keeper. With Bassett now playing two at the back this allowed Stratton greater room to test Joe′s goal keeping ability. At one point Joe kept the ball out with his face! Then the killer blow, after a Stratton corner, the ball the cleared to the right hand side of Bassett′s goal. The Stratton forward struck the ball hard and low which travelled through the crowded goal mouth and found the back of the net. Final score 4-0 to Stratton.
Stratton deserved to win they were the better team, OK, they also had some luck on their side, which we have not seen for the last two games. "Work hard in training and winning ways will return".
Credit: Andy Walduck
Last modified on Sunday 27th December 2020 at 17:22
