Old Wulfrunians 3-5 Ludlow
Scorers: Sam Colman, George Jandu, Chris Tibble
A new-look second team lost out to Ludlow on Sunday in an end-to-end contest at The Royal School.
With five regulars missing in came Dave Cartwright, Ben Acton and Sam Colman to make up a bare 11, and with the newly founded Old Wulfrunians Media Division of Mike Birch tweeting proceedings live, every player must have been dreaming about gaining fame and fortune with a match-winning performance.
Sadly there were few chances in the opening 20 minutes to get our avid Twitter followers excited about. George Jandu had the best of the Wulfs ones, skilfully beating several defenders but putting his shot too close to the keeper.
Ludlow eventually took the lead by building play down the left hand side, leading to a shot which came off the inside of the post and rolled along the line. In a last ditch attempt to clear the ball, Cartwright instead inadvertently helped it on its way into the bottom corner. He swore after the game that the ball had already crossed the line but I suppose that with no goal line technology in the MRHA (yet) we’ll never know. Birchy updated his role as Press Officer to include head of the Dubious Goals Panel and made the decision. The tweet went out: 1-0 to Ludlow, Cartwright own goal.
Three short corner opportunities went begging before half time as retweets of Birchy’s coverage rocketed into the thousands. Bored fans at Villa Park had clearly found a sporting event worth following and began debating the pros and cons of low bow sticks rather than wondering why Tim Sherwood wasn’t wearing his gilet.
The first ten minutes of the second half were dominated by Ludlow, who scored two quick goals to put themselves in a strong position. Twitter exploded, but Wulfs kept their heads.
We were quickly back in the game when a Chris Tibble reverse stick effort was deflected home at the near post by Colman. The reaction to the goal was less good though, before Birch had even been able to finish the tweet updating the score Ludlow had restored their three goal lead, going straight through after the restart.
Again, Wulfs refused to give up and kept applying pressure to keep the game competitive. First, a goalmouth scramble led to a penalty flick, which Jandu confidently dispatched, before a quick break down the right gave Tibble the chance to bring the score back to 4-3. He put his shot off the inside of the post and in, and Wulfs looked to be right back in the game.
Unfortunately a quick Ludlow breakaway led to a well taken fifth and with time running out the odds were increasingly stacked against us. A series of short corners again came to nothing, Tom Ward had a shot smothered by the keeper and a Colman strike narrowly missed the target, but Wulfs were unable to get back into it.
Plenty of positives to take away from a competitive game, but a disappointing result in the end.
Tweets from @Birch_1990
Old Wulfs 2s Vs Ludlow 2s push back
Old Wulfs 2nds 0 0 Ludlow 2nds after 15 minutes
Short corner Old Wulfs
Short corner comes to nothing
Short corner to Ludlow 2s
Ludlow short corner comes to nothing
Old Wulf 2s 0 - 1 Ludlow 2s Dave Cartwright own goal
Old Wulfs 2s short corner
Again the short corner comes to nothing
Old Wulfs win their 3rd short corner of the game
Short corner comes to nothing and the half time whistle goes Old Wulfs 2s 0 Ludlow 2s 1
Old Wulfs 2s 0 - 1 Ludlow 2s second half starts
Ludlow grab an early second after a quick free hit and a clinical finish at the back post
Ludlow grab a 3rd after a some questionable defending allows a reverse stick strike from top of the D
Sam Coleman Grabs a back post goal after good work from Tibble and Ben Acton 3-1
Ludlow immediately score to make it 4-1 after a midfield through the heart of midfield to pass to the P spot to then score in off the post
End to end stuff now as Old Wulfs win a penalty flick
George Jandu scores the Penalty flick to make it 4-2 dispatched into the bottom corner.
Ludlow short corner
Great defending by Old Wulfs to see out the short corner
GOAL! Chris Tibble after great work from Ed Craddock and Rob Hemmings found Tibble for a tap in 4-3
GOAL Ludlow over loading the old Wulfs defence to pass around the keeper and score at the back post 5-3
Old Wulfs short corner
Short corner comes to nothing
Short corner Old Wulfs
Short corner is dangerous and Ludlow free hit given
Final Score Old Wulfs 2s 3 - 5 Ludlow 2s
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