4th Team Vs Burton 7

A great result for us and one that we thoroughly deserved. Starting with 13 players was a novelty, (even if Reece Haselum needs a new watch that is not 15 minutes behind everyone elses!). In fact it should have been 14 but illnes kept Ryan Harding from being pitchside so get well soon Ryan.

Burton sit third in the table and so a hard match was anticipated. However, we were also aware that we had only lost by one goal when we had played them earlier in the season and had felt hard done by with not coming away with a point.

The game started briskly enough and within five minutes we were ahead. Some deft forward play from a short resulted in some swift passing the D and Ed Craddock fired home past the keeper, almost before Burton had woken up. Regrettably this goal provided the necessary stimulation for Burton and within minutes they equalised from their own short coner where a rebound fell at the feet of a forward who really would have had to work hard to miss it. The rest of the half was pretty even, but the difference for us was that we had built on the confidencein attack that we gained at Lichfield and continued to worry Burton. This was not what they were expecting and they were quite nervy, relying on route one hits to a lone striker that Andy Cooper Snr, Gary O'Sullivan and the recently returned Ray Jeff dealt with without even breaking sweat.

Half time 1-1.

Leading from the front I said absolutely nothing at half time and let Ray say lots of useful stuff instead. This was an inspired decision on my part as within 10 minutes of the start we scored two further goals via Elliot Gwilt and Reece Haselum. Both excellent opportunist goals backed up by clever passing and support from the mid-field. By now we are comfortably on top and were coping admirably with whatever was thrown at us. That was until one of the Burton strikers felt the best way to nullify the defence was to grab hold of our sticks out of sight of the umpires and as a result managed to get himself awarded a short corner for his efforts. Again the first shot did not find the mark but went up in the air and fell nicely for a very quick Burton forward who put the ball past a defence who thought the whistle had gone and were caught on the hop as a result.

However, that is as close to losing the game as we came. The improvement we have seen in the team over the last few weeks bodes well both for the 4th's next season and for the 3rd's who should get some promising youngsters to develop to the next level.

Men of the match - Grumpy old men Gary O'Sullivan and Andy Cooper Snr - even if they do shout at each other!

Steve Rowlands