2nd Team Vs Solihull Blossomfield

Solihull Blossomfield 5-3 Old Wulfs

Chris Nightingale (1), Chris Tutton (1), Chris Tibble (1)

In last week’s report I gave you the impression that the season was over for the 2s. We had gone through a year of ups and downs, made more difficult by injuries, unavailabilities and a change in captain, but in the end had fought through it and survived. An inspiring story. As it turns out, I was wrong. Like George Bush, I delivered a speech filled with false promises of a happy future in front of a huge ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner. In one week we have gone from being seven points clear of the drop zone with two games left, to being five points from safety with one left. Ladies and gentlemen, the Old Wulfrunians second team has been relegated.

‘How is that possible?!’ I hear you scream, as you try to choke back the tears. ‘Who is responsible for this nightmare?!’ Well, I’ll tell you. Instead of two teams being relegated from our division, as the league table has shown all the way through this season, the MRHA have chosen to re-evaluate this with two weeks left and relegate three teams instead. At this point I am going to take recent advice and move on without commenting.

The decision left us in a difficult, but not impossible position, and victory against Solihull would have given us a chance to secure safety next week against fellow strugglers Bromsgrove. We started brightly, but in true Old Wulfs style failed to convert early chances before going behind. The lead didn’t last long as Wulfs continued to control the game, with Nightingale collecting the rebound at a short corner and equalizing. Soon after came a key turning point in the match. We had arrived with 11 players plus the injured Craddock as twelfth man, but half way through the half he was forced to hobble on after Nightingale took a ball to the head from close range, ending his participation. Despite not being able to run Craddock made an instant impact, passing to Tutton who fired into the net from the top of the D.

Unfortunately, the second half was a completely different story to the first. Solihull took advantage of their large squad, began to put together some nice passing moves and gave us no time on the ball. Four goals came as they dominated the half, before Tibble scored another short corner to give us a consolation. Relegation was confirmed soon after when the news came through that Wolverhampton had hammered Stone to put them out of our reach.

MOTM: Alex Thompson