Our last game of the season was bought forward to accommodate Croft who would be finding it difficult to field a team at the scheduled weekend fixture. So we met on a Sunny Thursday evening at Ballards Ash knowing a win today would ensure we finished off the bottom of the league.

When we last played Croft towards the end of March we won 6-3, and with kick off not being till 6.30, Croft were obviously not wanting a repeat of that result by turning up and warming up by quarter to six, very eager.

The game started brightly with the boys knowing what was at stake and this seemed to jeer them on, some good running by Jake and Danny down the wings and by JD in the middle who was managing to get to the ball faster than his opponent today, the defence of Callum and Miles looked to have there work cut out for them with the no. 19 for Croft who was quick on the turn and heading straight for goal, which called for some good saves by George B in goal, to ensure they didn't score. With Wills bought on instead of Callum we told him to stay close to the no.19 and close him down, which he did in fine fashion, ensuring the ball was won by us and cleared. Josh up front was finding it hard as the Croft defender on him seemed to be twice his height but a couple of times Josh nicked the ball and was unlucky not to find the back of the net.

The breakthrough for us came when a throw in by Croft ended up in a scramble for the ball which Jake managed to break lose with went on a run towards the Croft goal, and shot – straight into the back of the net, one nil to us. Croft not to be out-done soon went in search of the equaliser and a goal mouth scramble in our area ended with an excellent save by George to deny the opposition.

The whistle came and so did a welcome drink, Half time talking to the boys to advise them of more of the same, this seemed to be a different team today, there was no doom and gloom at half time and talk of defeat but comments like – we are playing good – gave the team the confidence to continue for the important win.

With George Dow up front now instead of Josh, he did some good running and was good competition for the big defender. An attack on our goal which came to nothing ended with a good clearance by Miles this time, who cleared the ball instead of running with it trying to beat the whole opposition team by himself, which was run on by George D who slotted the ball to Jake who shot straight into the back of the net to make it a worthy two nil lead. We were unlucky not to make it three or four when another run by Jake ended with Danny this time just firing wide, and when a free kick was awarded to us for shirt pulling by Croft, Jake again was unlucky to see the ball go wide.

When asked the ref how long was left I thought he did say 5 mins, so a change was put in place, with Callum wanting a try midfield, JD was bought off for a well earned rest, with Josh put back up front instead of George who also had a good game today, Croft noticing this change soon challenged the new look team and with a mix up in defence Croft were able to snatch one back, this led to a heart stopping final few minutes which there was 5 left so when asked earlier the ref actually said 9 mins not five to go. Bassett not wanting to see this lead go as had done so in a few games this season where we've been leading till the last moments and the opposing team have managed to find an equaliser to deny us the 3 points, battled hard with JD put back on to reinforce the team we were unlucky not to find another goal when a shot by Jake ended with the Croft goalie weakend clearance with Josh left with a near open net and fired just high.

The final whistle came and a well deserved three points for us to end the season, some good play by the boys, and for their efforts Freddo Frogs as promised by Jim – JD's dad.

The team is looking good for the next season which hopefully we can build on through the summer and with some tournaments ahead of us, the confidence will start to flow. Overall, a difficult season which saw some management and coaching changes hopefully for the best, we've lost some players but got some old faces back with us. We have finished second from bottom but I know and the boys know we are better than that and had our fair share of unlucky results – lets build on this & take to next league at under 10's by storm.

Credit: Unknown
Last modified on Monday 28th December 2020 at 22:09