With winter closing in, the game was played on yet another cold Wednesday night but, for me at least, it ended up being one of the more sweaty matches as both sides didn’t give up until the final whilst.

I tried to use my picks tactically to give us a solid defence of Neil and Nick and also Brian and Harvey helping out as and when required. This allowed Sylvan, Ali and myself to press on forward. The opposition used Gary’s and Ben’s pace to put pressure on our back line whilst Blake held the midfield allowing Jay and Richie to run off the front men. Ross and Noel manned their defence trying to keep us quiet, playing quite a brave high line I thought.

My team, playing in Yellow, spent the first half of the game keeping the ball well and making a few chances. This lead to a number of shots on goal from range but Ross and Noel defended strongly, protecting their keeper so the chances came to nothing. The whites pushed back moving the ball well and put some pressure on our defence as Ben, Gary and Richie probed the back line. Neil and Nick stayed strong in front of Harvey in goal, who also made a number of good saves, to keep the score level.

The first breakthrough didn’t come until the second half of the game where Sylvan played a defence spitting pass through to me on the left and I managed to find the net giving us the lead, however, this did not last long. Controversy over a thrown in where Brian threw the ball down the line caused some confusion between the teams. The question was whether the ball came into play but the dispute allowed the whites to capitalise as they retook the throw in and Richie forced home an equaliser. I’m not sure even VAR would of resolved what the correct thing to do was in that situation.

The game ended 1-1 with both sides feeling they should have had more goals. I felt both sides put out strong performances, moving the ball well but my Man of the Match has to be Nick. He was solid in defence for us, throwing his body in the way on numerous occasions to protect our goal.

Special mention goes out to Blake as opposition captain for leaving me to take home both bags, I’ll repay the favour next time.

Cheers Lads