Sunday 4th October 2009 - Stratton Youth (H)

Poor Josh Shepherd was taken ill just before the match so was unable to play. Everyone at the club is wishing Josh a speedy recovery! Josh's absence meant that Wootton were down to the bare bones as far as players were concerned, starting with 7 but no substitutes!

Wootton were unable to field their usual defensive pairing, and unfortunately the unfamiliarity proved to be costly. It was 5:0 after only 15 minutes and morale amongst the Wootton boys was low.

Joe Mitchell gave us just the boost we needed though when he raced through the Stratton defence to go round the keeper and finish from a tight angle. Wootton looked like a different team and it was no surprise when they added a second with Ben King scoring well. 5:2 at half time but at least Wootton had some momentum!

Stratton added a 6th just after the break and heads could have gone down again, but this wasn't to be and the boys started to show their early season form. Ben and Joe were giving the Stratton defenders all sorts of problems, and we could easily have added another when Ben's pass released Joe with just the keeper to beat. Joe struck it well but the keeper pulled off a fine save. Joe then returned the favour for Ben when he fed him with a superb through ball, perfectly weighted; Ben's first touch was good and was unlucky to see his shot saved by the keeper again.

Joe Mitchell was starting to look sharp and robbed a defender before shooting high into the net to make it 6:3. Joe tackled a Stratton defender once more and released Ben with a lovely pass. Ben still had lots to do though but finished in style to make it 6:4. Great finish Ben! - GAME ON!

Unfortunately though, tired legs began to have their effect and Stratton once again took the initiative and scored 3 quick goals to make it 9:4. All the boys had to play the full 50 minutes and played on admirably despite being tired and taking a few knocks. So well done for that!

A little bit of work needs to be done on defending but plenty of positives can be taken from the game, such as Alex's tough tackling, Ben and Joe's excellent understanding up front, and Nicky's superb attitude - didn't stop smiling all match!

It's easy to want the ball and to put in that little bit extra effort when you are winning 5:0, but much harder to do so when 5:0 down; therefore today's Man of the Match goes to Joe Mitchell who helped lift the boys when they looked down and out at 0:5. Well done Joe.

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