3rd Team Vs Wolverhampton & Tettenhall 3s

Old Wulf’s 3rds welcomed local side Wolverhampton & Tettenhall to the Grammar for a 12 O’clock start. With quite a few regular squad members missing across the club, 3rds welcomed Julian Myatt and Jack Tolley from the 4ths as well as Harry Snelgrove who was making his Old Wulf’s debut.

With no natural forward players the pre-match brief detailed how 3rds would initially line up, the rotation of players and substitutes for the first half.

Winning the toss, Old Wulf’s capt studied the sky, and once the ceilometer had been dispensed with, chose ends, enabling a 10 man Wolves team to start proceedings.

It didn’t take long for Old Wulf’s to begin to apply pressure on the Wolves goal, numerous chances came and went with Old Wulf’s failing to convert these into goals. Following a reshuffle of personnel, 3rds continued to dominate, but now began to convert those chances into goals scoring 4 in the first half.  Goals from Frosty, Tom, Harry from a short and a 2nd from Tom.  Wolverhampton did however also get on the scoresheet during the half when Old Wulf’s failed to deal with a fast break and the ball found a Wolves player in the D to calmly place the ball past Rowley and into the net. Towards the end of the half, Old Wulf’s lost Vish to injury, when his foot got in the way of a fiercely struck ball forcing another player shuffle and Vish unable to participate any further in the game.

HT 4-1 Old Wulf’s.

Old Wulf’s got the second half underway and nearly conceded a second shortly after, when following a breakdown in play and with Old Wulf’s high up the field, found themselves outnumbered on the break, but Wolves were unable to capitalise and the ball went out over the baseline.  From the 16, Old Wulf’s quickly worked the ball through midfield to Tom whose shot beat the keeper for his 3rd and Old Wulf’s 5th.  Old Wulf’s continued to move the ball exceptionally well with the midfield unit along with the forwards exploiting the space with some excellent interplay. Wolves were limited to trying to catch Old Wulf’s on the break, and despite getting into the final third on several occasions often found themselves isolated and unable to create clear chances. Old Wulf’s throughout the half continued to press, with Tom hitting the post, and shooting narrowly wide on more than one occasion, before finally getting his 4th and Old Wulf’s 6th.  

Full Time 6-1 win.

Another win sees 3rds climb up to 4th in the league and with 3 wins out of 4 just 3 pts off top. Early days but a great start to the season for the newly promoted 3rds. (Has the break in fixtures come at the right time?) 

Special mention to Jack Tolley who grew into the game as it went on, Harry for excellent positioning and reading of the game,the midfield and forwards as a whole who were dynamic, played some great hockey and excellent ball transference.  To Manny who held the ball up superbly delivering some and I quote ‘iniesta esqe’ assists. Last but not least Tom who definitely had his shooting stick with him.

It should come as no surprise that with 4 goals and excellent interplay that the Players MOM vote goes to Tom, Other players to receive votes were Manny & Harry.