Sunday 28th March 2010 - Calne FC 'A' (A)

On a bright and sunny morning we made the short journey to play Calne Town at their splendid new club facilities, with only Lewis unavailable.

It was hard not to be envious of the vast amount of land and pitches at this New Sports Foundation funded facility and the pitch we played on was a superb surface.

The emphasis before the match to the players was to try and keep the passing short and enjoy the match and we started quite brightly with several corners in succession.

Our opponents defended manfully and their keeper was in inspired form, when we did manage to breach them.

The closest we came to scoring was when a shot from Tyler was deflected onto the post and out for another corner. Several times the ball bounced around in front of the goal waiting for a final touch goal wards, but it was always a Calne player who reacted quickest to clear the danger.

Our defence of Jordan T, Beckham and Alanah had to be careful of Calne on the break and it was from a break that they took the lead, when a two on one situation emerged leaving Conor exposed and the forward had the simple task of putting the ball into the net from a couple of yards.

For the remainder of the half we put several good balls into the box from Callum, Jordan WT and Zach, but this was not going to be our day in front of goal as the ball continued to elude both Tyler and Euan when in good positions.

Both Alanah and Jordan WT took knocks in the first half and Jordan was to play no further part in the game.

Half-Time 0-1

The 2nd half saw a carbon copy of the first half as we continued to go forward but so many times the ball fizzed across the box and out to safety. The best example of this is was when a driving run and cross from Beckham ended with the ball going across in front of the goal 2 yards out and out for a throw in.

Callum, Tyler and Euan all tested the keeper and he pushed a shot from Euan onto the cross bar and Tyler saw a shot again tipped onto the post.

It was a corner from Tyler that we got the equaliser as Euan powered a header into the top corner of the goal.

The game then became very end to end as we committed players forward to try and get the winner and another breakaway left Conor exposed again and a simple tap in put Calne back in front with 8 minutes remaining.

Having lost their lead once the Calne players were now even more determined not to let this happen again and they held out for a deserved win. The togetherness of the Calne team and the constant encouragement from their parents on the sidelines was as good as anything I've come across for a long time.

Coach's analysis- This was clearly not going to be our day and whilst we didn't pass the ball anywhere near as well as we can and didn't get much luck in front of goal, I have to give the greatest compliment to Calne Town's 6 players who made up for the lack of a full team with an inspired team performance and deserved their win.

Player of the Match- Alanah Edwards who despite playing in pain from her injury in the first half never gave up and fought for every tackle and also tried to pass the ball when the opportunity arose.

Match Squad- Conor, Alanah, Jordan T, Beckham, Callum, Jordan WT, Zach, Euan (Capt) and Tyler.

Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:39