With Manager Gary ‘Gazza’ Rollinson back the team were sure to arrive on time, unfortunately everyone was sloppy in the warm up and it showed in a nervous first 15 as we lost the ball time and time again. Thankfully Gianluca pulled off an extremely strong save down to his left and several one-on-ones to keep us level. As Will came on for his first start of the season with Matt Z their energy and tidy touches helped us wrestle back control of the game. Good work down the left culminated in a great cross and empathic volley into the roof of the net by Ollie Rendall, captain fantastic. A great one touch move with Ollie and Stu M put Matt through and his first time finish narrowly went over the bar. 1-0 at the break.
Second half, started well as we created chances for Matt and Ollie while Stu M went close on a few corners. Unfortunately, they equalised against the run of play. After failing to clear the ball Gianlucas kick was charged down and fell kindly for them to pop home. 1-1. We were still in control of possession and after good work down the right by Rafa and Alessio Matt was fouled on the edge of the box. Scotty’s free kick was too hot to handle for their keeper and Rendall pounced to poke the ball home. As Stu went to center back and pascal came back on into midfield we dominated the play. Stu won every header allowing us to play almost exclusively in their half and after good work down the right and all the forwards pascal slotted home from the edge of the box! 3-1 was comfortable until the last minute as some miscommunication when the ball was loose in the box resulted in a male from which a penalty was awarded to them. After their player had managed to miss the goal by about 30 yards with his earlier free-kick he improved to rocket his penalty against the bar before curiously failing in his attempt to catch and slam dunk the re-bound into the net. With that the ref blew the final whistle a good 3-1 victory.
Man of the Match – Everyone did well but a few particularly good performances stood out. Ollie Rendall’s captains’ double, Wills energy in midfield, while flashes of brilliance from Stu with a few through balls and for winning every header at the back in the last 15 minutes deserve mention. However, man of the match was Gianluca, despite the unlucky ricochet on the goal he made seven or eight absolutely top class saves and it’s difficult to convey quite how good he was today.
Robbie