3rd Team Vs Stone 4s

3rds travelled to Stone for an early evening start, it was bitterly cold and dark but at least it wasn’t raining.

Old Wulf’s won the Toss and decided to commence proceedings, however for the first 10 minutes Old Wulf’s were under a fair bit of pressure. Stone moved the ball well, with pace and determination, but the back line and Colin, despite getting clattered by a stick to the head when going down low to make the save, kept the score at 0-0. After the early drama, Old Wulf’s were now finally acclimatising to the conditions and their play began to move up a gear.  Lots of good play across all areas of the pitch was now consistently evident from Old Wulf’s and were now advancing into Stones final third on numerous occasions. On 20 mins they got their reward, when Rob Bolus played the ball to Gary. 1-0 Old Wulf’s.  Wulf’s didn’t have to wait long for their second, six minutes in fact, and it was the Gary and Rob B combining again, Gary with the goal assisted by Rob Bolus. 2-0 Old Wulf’s. Old Wulf’s were now good value for their two goals and looked likely to score with every attack, such was the fluidity of movement of the forwards. A series of short corners to Old Wulf’s followed and it looked like Rob B had finally got on the score sheet when he beat two defenders placing the ball between the keeper’s legs only for it to be cleared off the line by a defender. However not long after, and from the third phase of play from another short, Old Wulf’s got their third with Frosty shooting towards the far post where Gary was on hand to score from very close range. 3-0 Old Wulf’s. Unfortunately, shortly after the goal, Frosty was forced off with a hamstring injury that would see him play no further part in the game.

HT 3-0 Old Wulf’s

After a short half time break (it was cold!), Stone got the second half underway and immediately went on the hunt for a goal of their own, however play broke down inside Old Wulf’s 23 and the ball was recycled with great effect and purpose back into Stones half.  Old Wulf’s excellent movement upfront continued from where it had left off and the forwards were constantly running the channels and causing Stone no end of problems. At 3 minutes into the half (38min on the clock), Old Wulf’s struck again when Nic played the ball to Rob Bolus in the D who having beaten the defender left little to chance this time, hitting a well-placed shot into the goal. 4-0 Old Wulf’s.  Old Wulf’s continued to create chances but equally had some defending to do. Stone were constantly rotating their forward players to maintain their customary pacy attacks. Old Wulf’s play was becoming a little ragged as the half went on, and Colin was called into action several times to maintain the 4-0 score line.  Old Wulf’s had to reorganise twice in this half, when they were reduced to 10 men, with two players receiving green cards, Noah on 51 minutes and Rob Bolus on 61 minutes. Despite the one-man advantage to Stone, both sides continued to create further chances, never the less the score remained 4-0 at full time.

FT 4-0 Old Wulf’s.

Another excellent team performance and 3rds are really settling into a good rhythm of play. Defence, midfield and forwards are all playing as a unit and as mentioned in the report the intelligent runs and work rate from the forwards was phenomenal.

Special mentions this week to Ryan who was making his club debut, and Bravnav who was making his 3rd team debut. Other noticeable performances were Rob Bolus, Jack Tolley, Noah and Nic.

This weeks Man of the Match was a difficult choice due to a great team performance. From the votes received Man of the Match goes to:

A tie between Jack and Gary, closely followed 1 vote behind by BravNav, and then Rob Bolus.