4th Team Vs Finchfield 4

The last time we met Finchfield we battled to 4-3 win in a game that we were outplayed for much of.

Since that time Finchfield have leapfrogged Wulfs in the table and moved to the verge of the promotion places.

So we were expecting a difficult game with a line up showing a number of changes from last week at Cannock.

Old Wulfs started the better of the two sides and created a number of half chances. Against the run of play Finches seized on some hesitation in the back 4 to steal an undeserved lead. Undaunted Wulfs piled on more pressure and were soon level when Evans got around the back and put in a cross which Lally unconvincingly forced over. Minutes later the same two players were involved again with a powerful Evans through ball deflected past the Finches keeper.

The Wulfs were now in charge and the midfield quartet of Duhra, Mann, Buckley and Artist were strangling any threats from their counterparts. Artist was unlucky with a shot cleared off the line from a Mann short corner.

Lally found himself in space on the wing and put a cross into Evans in the D, the ball was half cleared and Buckley was on hand to score. Wulfs continued to press and were almost gifted a fourth goal, the Finches keeper stopped a ball from a ball from going out for a long corner but inexplicably kicked straight to Lally. Lally attacked the D and unleashed a goalbound shot, a defender got in the way and deflected the shot straight into the forehead of Evans. As he was being bandaged and leaving the pitch Evans reminded Lally that the incident could have been avoided if he had passed rather than shot (mental faculties obviously not affected by the blow).

So 3-1 at half time. The skipper reminded the team that key to completing the task would be to maintain concentration. As the half started the Wulfs back line continued to shut out the Finches attack. The only shot of any note produced an excellent save from Dillworth. Hosking, Hill, Carver and Savage were on their game and gave little incentive to the increasingly frustrated opponents.

At the other end of the pitch Wulfs began to terrorize the Finches defence. The first chance wasn't converted as skipper Hamilton found himself in unfamiliar territory as Lally put him through. He set to shoot, then he reset to shoot, he then reset to shoot again, finally he put a shot straight at the keeper. Evans (now looking like Mr Bump) watching on from the sidelines obviously wasn't impressed and decided to rejoin the fray replacing the skipper.

The rest of the half brought some great interaction between Buckley, Evans and Lally bringing a catalogue of chances. From one of our shorts Artist shot just wide. A Savage through ball evaded the defenders leaving Lally with a 1 on 1 with keeper.He shifted the ball right and as the keeper adjusted he rolled the ball past him into the corner.

The time now came for Evans to join the goalscoring party with 2 goals, the first a solo run and shot and the second I cannot remember(sorry Simon).

From another short corner a Buckley shot was deflected through the keepers legs by Lally for his 4th goal. Minutes later another Buckley shot was deflected past the keeper by Lally for his fifth of the afternoon.

The remainder of the game was fairly spikey and saw a pair of green cards, one for a Finches youngster for persistently questioning the Umpire and one for Carver (his first of the century) for a mistimed tackle.

Lally had a sixth goal disallowed deflecting home an Evans cross deemed to be high and dangerous. He also went close with a run and shot evading 3 defenders in the process. In the final 30 seconds he found himself alone in the D with just the keeper to beat, his attempted shot resulted in him embarrassingly falling over with a number of his colleagues accusing him of double jug evasion!

So an amazing 8-1 win for the Wulfs built on a terrific team performance. Lally' s 5 goal haul added to his hat trick in the reverse fixture mean a return of 8 goals against Finchfield this season.

Special praise for Simon Evans for continuing the game after his injury and getting his two goals. At the time of writing this report he was at New Cross awaiting the superglue.