Sunday 11th October 2009 - Penhill Knights (A)

It was a wet sodden Sunday afternoon that the Wootton Bassett boys battled with the Penhill Knights. Firstly, apologies from the Managers for turning up late, there was an unfortunate mix up and they would like to say a big thank you to all you parents and boys for reading your emails correctly!!

Kick-off was planned for 2pm but started 10 minutes later with Archie as Captain and George as Vice Captain. Before kick-off, the Penhill Managers explained they did not have any subs and so would be happy to play 6 a-sides, for 30 minutes each way.

The first half was a hard fought match, with our boys battling the cold and rain as well as the good passing and play from the opposition, a strong team who pushed our boys hard and ultimately led to them scoring the first goal; 1-0 to the home team. Our boys were great, their heads did not go down and the kept fighting hard for the ball. Ryan unfortunately in the first half seemed to have swallowed a fly. "I don't know why he swallowed a fly", which led to Harrison, Archie and Hadley covering and taking charge of the midfield for a while. Our throw in from the sideline in the opposition's half and a great kick from Harrison, with the ball going over their heads and we have the equalising goal. Well done Harrison! Sorry news for his dad Colin, I feel your pockets will be a little lighter tonight.

Our boys are back in the game and Ralph and Nigel make a substitution and Cameron and Matt C come on. Meanwhile our defensive team of George, Cade and MJ are mopping up quite nicely and stopping all manner of shots, MJ in particular with great flair and using his body and feet to deflect Penhill's strikes into desperation. It become tense at one point, with an opposition's shot almost going in goal, just stopping on our goal line and was able to be kicked out, huge sighs of relief from the sidelines. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop the opposition from scoring their second goal and our boys heads go down a little. Another substitution is made to give fresh legs on the field, as by now poor Ryan now looks like he has swallowed the frog that swallowed the fly and he comes off for a breather. The rain seems to be turning on and off like a tap and all are relieved when the whistle blows for half time and the score line at the end of the first half is 2-1 to Penhill.

Five minutes rest and restitution and Ralph secret weapons – we hope a better brand of Jelly babies from last week Ralph and our boys are up for the next half. Game plan to run the legs off the Penhill lad's midfield as they would tire quicker and we had more subs to bring on fresh legs. The second half starts with the same line up as in the first and our boys are certainly up for it, great passing and tackling and we are soon into the opposition's box and all our lads are desperate to get that goal and lots of legs stopping the ball, Ryan is the lucky one and steps up, controls and boots it into the back of the net, 2-2. Our side of the pitch erupts, not sure who jumps the highest with joy, probably me!!!

Our boys are really closing the Penhill lads down now and with Cameron and Hadley coming on pays dividends with great passing from George, Hadley and Ryan, finally to Cameron who muscles his way through their defence and we have our third GOAL. Our boys take the lead, our confidence is up and we are playing better. Even George making surging runs with Cameron playing predator in the centre and it's not long before Cameron adds more goals to his belt, with great balls from our half and with speedy legs, slots 3 more goals in. The boys from Penhill did not give up and constantly pressured our boys, in particular our defence and at one stage a comment was made on the sidelines as to whether we were watching football or a game of tennis as the ball seemed to be kicked back and forth between the two halves. But due to some great saves from MJ, who seems to be ready for anything, as I am sure his family's washing machine is, we are able to hold on to our win with the final whistle blowing and the score 2-6 to us. Well done lads, great game.

Match report by Gill Welsman-Clarke

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