Another beautiful Saturday morning in our new home at Stockport Sports Village. Once again we had a full squad to pick from and this really helps when playing in such a physically demanding league. The only change on the sideline was Coach Colette in for The Grand Old Duke of York who’s still celebrating his birthday . . . . a month on!!
Colette brought a reassuring calmness to the boys who are typically hyper & giddy pre-match but were more attentive than normal and this helped as we were rushed through our warm-up as the ref wanted to get things going earlier than scheduled.
The Hornets often start matches tepidly and they had no time to dip their toes in as the Boys from Bramhall came out the blocks firing and our lads found themselves in unfamiliar territory just minutes into the first-half.
The majority of The Hornets have been playing together for a number years now and even our two new boys in Charlie & Kai have galvanised this unit and the team needed to pull together and stand up & be counted. Nobody optimises this more than Frankie who went up another gear in midfield and started to steer the ship back in the right direction.
After practicing corners in training mid-week, we got a hatful of opportunities to convert and it was beginning to look impossible until Frankie⚽️ got his big boot on it from a beautiful cross from Ronan.
Albie, Charlie, Oliver B & Kai all got shots on target but the Queensgate goalie was in fine form. Oliver L was jetting off after the game but was by no means in holiday mode as he got stuck in and was winning the ball back. Finley was in fine form and making no friends with oppositions attackers who were struggling to deal with his intensity & accuracy in defending. Finners is also bringing the ball forward now and was ghosting past their midfielders.
Fenn’s head never dropped and he needed to rescue The Hornets from some great long shots. The other things we’ve practiced in training is playing the ball out from the back, using the width of the pitch more & ‘Whipping’ a quick ball into the danger zone. The lads stuck to the plan and Ollie M⚽️ was rewarded with yet another poaches goal from yet another save from yet another Albie shot.
The game was extremely evenly matched and this reassures the coaching team that our decision to move to The Metro League was the right one. The boys had to show tough character and resilience to compete and it was a great spectacle to watch. As the battle went on we found a moment of magic in Frankie’s right-boot 💥 Almost on the half-way line, he intercepted the ball and began to drive forwards. Nobody could’ve forecasted what would happen next as Frankie⚽️ lobbed the goalie with an outside-of-the-boot strike that bent like a banana before dropping under the cross-bar & into the net!
As coaches, we noticed it was our parents you could hear most on the sidelines in the second-half. All positive reassurance and it helped push the lads on and I could see our players digging deeper than before and fighting for each other.
The final whistle was greeted with relief and the boys looked like they had been to war! The biggest compliment came from the opposition coach who praised the boys for their style of play & passion for the game.
POTM went to Frankie🏆
An absolute warrior in the middle and a Goal Of The Season contender already with his outrageous strike from distance . . . . . Just when we needed it.
Queensgate Tigers next week. I’m sure they will know all about us now so prepare for another battle boys!
⚽️🖤💛⚽️
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