MATCH REPORT - SELKENT LEAGUE 13-14 (Autumn): Petts Wood Eagles vs JR Spartans 27th Oct 13
Our second away game of the Autumn seasson saw us travel down to Barnet Wood Lane to play Petts Wood Eagles on a very blustery morning.
We had a full squad with the exception of George who was away for the weekend. The starting line was Jack (GK), Finlay, Shemar, Taran, Lovell, Ben and William (Cpt).
The game started very evenly with both teams havd an equal amount of possession. Shemar, Finlay and Taran worked tirelessly in defence making some very strong tackles and ensuring that any danger from Petts Wood was kept to a minimium. Those few chances that PW Eagles did have were gathered perfectly by Jack in goal. Both Lovell, Ben and William were full of running as usual and with about 15 mins of the first half gone, a through ball from Lovell found William free in the box, only for his shot to be just stopped by their keeper, as the ball almost went through the keepers legs (unlucky William). Minutes later a throw-in on the left hand side found Lovell, those run down the left wing and resulting cross saw Ben gather the ball and strike a lovely shoot into the Eagles goal (great strike Ben). However straight from the kick off Petts Wood broke through the middle of the pitch and their striker's shoot took a wicked deflection, that completely wrong footed Jack and left him no chance of reaching the ball, for an unfortuate equaliser. From the kick off we then almost did the same, with Ben chasing what looked like a lost cause, he collected the ball from the byline and crossed into William, only for William to shoot just wide of the post. Petts Wood then also went close to scoring, but Jack made a fantastic save with his legs to prevent what looked like a certain goal for our opponenets (great save Jack). The boys weren't sitting back and another goal always looked possible. With 21 minutes gone of the first half, Finlay put a smashing through ball into Ben's path and Ben finished with another terrific shoot to put us back in the lead. With the half coming to an end, we have another attack on the Petts Wood goal only for the keeper to mishandle the ball in front of Lovell and he made no mistake in poking the ball home from close range for our third of the game.
Half Time score: Petts Wood Eagles - 1, Junior Reds Spartans - 3
At half time the boys were told to be mindful of the weather conditions, as the stong wind could play a part particularly on any high balls played into the box. We started the second half with Kaci on for Shemar, Alfie on for Ben and Callum on for William. We start the second half well and following a fast dribbling run down the left by Lovell the resulting cross fell to Callum whose shot was saved by the eagles keeper. Both Alfie and Lovell had some great possession and runs down the wings and along with Callum, for all our attempts at goal, we couldn't stretch our lead. With 10 minutes of the second half played we got a corner which was cleared straight to Taran and his resulting shot just went wide. Petts Wood began to grow in confidence and Kaci and Finlay start to become more and more under pressure from the wings. Our oppenents then got a stroke of luck, as Kaci headed the ball to stop it crossing the box to a Petts Wood striker, but unfortunately the ball looped into our net (very unlucky Kaci). This boosted PW Eagles and they looked like they beleived they could get another goal. However Alfie was still full of running and went on a great run on the right, checked inside the defender and then put a lovely ball into the box for Callum, whose resulting shoot just went wide. The boys continued to defend valiantly and Jack made a great double save to smoother the ball right on the goal line. With minutes of the half remaining a break down the fight saw a pass into the middle for the Petts Wood striker to slot the ball home for their second equaliser of the game.
Full Time score: Petts Wood Eagles - 3, Junior Reds Spartans - 3
Managers Comments: Another strong performance by the team in some difficult weather conditions. The Petts Wood manager had said to me, before the game, that they were becoming some what of draw specialists, and so it transpired. We worked hard and we didn't lose, we also had a bit of bad luck on two of the goals and luck does play a part in football on occasions. Well done boys another hard fought result.
Captain – William
Man of the match - Jack