Pythons | Winnersh Rangers Blizzard

Winnersh Rangers Blizzard 1 - 1 Whitegrove Pythons
10:15 AM Saturday, March 15, 2008

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Hi Pythons

The game was in an extremely nice setting in Bearwood College’s grounds and the weather was also very nice. Last time we played Winnersh Rangers Blizzard we lost 2 – 0. We were determined not to let this happen again.

All of you behaved really well on Thursday and were again on best behaviour once we started our warm-up. So it was a tough call on who to choose as captain, but in the end it went to Haydn as he will miss our last 2 games due to being on holiday in Australia. We were missing Michael who has had a virus this week.

1st Half
We were playing our 1 - 3 – 3 formation which has worked well for us. Up front were Cameron, George, Haydn & Kieran. And in defence we had Ben, Matthew F Matthew L. You all seemed to think this would be an easy game as we were playing the team at the bottom of our section who had only scored 2 goals this year. But you should have known better, that there is no easy game. The game seemed to be fairly evenly balanced.

The first corner went to Winnersh, which we defended well. It was then our turn to attack with Haydn shooting just wide. We started to pass the ball a bit better, which led to another attack on their goal forcing them to kick the ball off for our first corner. Kieran took a great corner, which unfortunately no one was able to capitalise on.

After that the game moved from one end to the other. Occasionally danger loomed with Matthew L rescuing us with some great defensive kicks. Ben & Matthew F held their defensive positions well. Luke safely handled the few touches he had of the ball to end the first half 0 – 0.

2nd Half
Ben started up front on the right and together with Alex (missed the 1st half) in defence in the centre with George in goal seemed to give you a boost as you went straight into the attack. There was better passing between Ben, Cameron & Haydn, which led to several attacks on their goal. A great chance fell to Ben where the ball rebounded off the goalkeeper straight into the path of Ben. Ben controlled the ball well and dribbled the ball round to the right hand side of the goalkeeper and then took a shot on an open goal. It was a tough angle and the ball went wide.

I think we lost concentration by thinking of how close we were to taking the lead, because within less than a minute from their goalkick the ball was in our penalty area. There was a mad scramble to defend the ball with a great dive from George but all to no avail as Winnersh went 1 – 0 up completely against the run of play.

Amazingly, you Pythons picked yourselves up and were back on the attack straightaway. Another shot went wide from Haydn and Ben had another shot on goal, which was saved by their goalkeeper. The pressure on Winnersh was building and with 5 minutes to go, Ben was fouled just outside the penalty area. A free kick was given. Haydn as captain decided he would take the free kick instead of Kieran. It was a critical time of the match and the pressure on Haydn was high. I told Haydn to point his non-kicking foot at the goal and aim for the corner. The referee blew his whistle for Haydn to take the free kick. Haydn gave it everything and the ball flew through the air above the defenders’ heads right into the top right hand corner. The goalkeeper had no chance. GOAL! Well done Haydn.

From then onwards you Pythons stepped up a gear with the attacks coming fast and furious. Winnersh also responded with some great attempts on goal. Some great defending from Alex, Luke & Matthew F together with George in goal ensured Winnersh did not get a 2nd goal.

Final score 1 – 1.

You showed great spirit as a team to come back and get that well deserved equaliser. Well done you Pythons.

Manager's Player of the Match: Matthew F

Best Movement of the Match: Haydn (Have a great holiday)

John & Paul