U8s 2 - Abbeymead Rovers Hawks 1

Written by I Templeton

Having sussed out the route last Saturday (!) we were all back in Abbeymead for today’s lunch time fixture.  Thankfully last week’s frost was nowhere to be seen, but there was a cold strong wind blowing the length of the pitch for the duration of the game.

Captain for the day, Matthew Bird, won the toss and elected that we play into the wind first half.  Wanderers manfully battled the elements, but it was the wind-assisted Hawks that started the brightest.  For the first five minutes the ball stayed in our half and Andrew Webb made a smart save with his outstretched left leg to ensure ARH didn’t take an early lead.  Gradually we settled and Tom Collin, Chris Sluman, Jacob Hucker and Bird began to assert their presence across our back line.

Our front men, Henry Sady and Louis Templeton, gradually started to see more of the ball and Templeton came close with a solo effort that he knocked just past the left-hand upright.

Manager Bath shuffled his pack and introduced son, Ollie, and Joe Stott.  Both got stuck in right from the off and their added steel enabled Hucker and Sluman to push forward a little.

The breakthrough came shortly afterwards.  Sluman played the best ball of the game, a fantastic twenty-five yard cross field pass directly into Templeton’s feet.  Templeton had time and space to pick his spot and slotted home confidently from the edge of the box.

Wanderers endured the wind and in patches played really well ending the half in total command.

With the strong gusts on their backs Oranges started the second period in a similar fashion and created a number of good chances.

Hawks were tough opponents and had a few good attacks themselves.  Three of their players were particularly good and on two occasions they were very unlucky to see their shots hit our woodwork (plasticwork?).

We secured some breathing space when Stott nicely set up Sady who dutifully poked home to give us a two nil lead.

However, the last five minutes proved to be the hardest of all.  Hawks got a goal (a bit scrappy, but on balance they probably deserved it) and pressed really hard for an equalizer.  Luckily Bird, Bath, Collin and Stott dug deep and we hung on to the final whistle.

We rode our luck a bit today, but the victory was deserved and a great way to start 2012.

All agreed that Matthew Bird played well above himself and deserved his Man of The Match award.  Well done Matthew, great performance!