Well, well, well.

I always say to the boys the best teams don’t always win every game, sometimes everything can just go against you or you come up against a team having their best ever game. Today felt like it would be one of those days for us.

We were starting the game with our regular number 1 Jesse in goal after a return from injury, but in return were missing the versatile Jett this week.

After the early withdrawal of Noah with a bloody nose we conceded while regrouping to go 1-0 down with no complaints about the goal. In the scrappy 5-10 minutes that followed Jesse and the DL keeper were both forced into good saves before another good DL goal put us 2-0 down. After this Isaac became a real thorn in DL’s side scrapping for every ball and causing them real problems in attack. This coupled with Ernie doing as asked, sitting a little deeper, intercepting the ball and starting moves off got us back in the game. The Reds were now in control with Henry, Theo and Isaac all going close on multiple occasions.

Henry was able to get a goal for us after winning the ball in midfield and firing home from distance. Minutes later it was Henry again who beat his man and crossed for Isaac to volley home making it 2-2 minutes before the break. Josh was then unlucky to not have a brace on 2 separate occasions with well struck shots. There was time for one more chance though as Isaac flashed a header wide from an Archie corner.

Despite DL now struggling to control the powerful duo of Henry and Isaac both were withdrawn at the break to allow us to try something different. Sam was on in goal and Emmanuel was moved to attack carrying on straight from where Isaac left off, battling for everything and also selflessly running his socks off for the team. Theo also stepped his game up a gear and was now slaloming down the left with grace.

More chances followed for the Reds but the goal to put us in front was still not coming. In a good spell of dominance we still had to be on our toes though as Archie was called into action to clear a certain goal off the line!

With 13 minutes to go the reintroduction of both Henry and Isaac gave us the spark we needed to go in front. A long throw to Isaac who against 2 DL players managed to knock the ball into Henry’s path to fire home what proved to be the winner.

Following more good play from the Reds the last 5 minutes became very open with play at either end and Sam forced into one great save in particular.

The team marshalled by today’s captain Oz and his defensive partner Noah (who was throwing himself at everything) now had to stand firm and hold on for one final onslaught from DL. After what seemed like a long and questionable last 2 minutes the Reds were able to come away with all 3 points.

Really pleased with the boys today despite the setback of going 2-0 down and multiple missed chances they never stopped going. It sounds strange but on another day if half of our good chances had gone in we could have won the 8-2.

Funny old game, thanks for the support!