First league game of the season for our not so little owls and through the summer we have said goodbye to some players and welcomed a new bunch in. I was a little nervous as we didn’t manage to get any pre-season fixtures in and teams take time to gel together but the team came together perfectly on a warm and sunny day at Manley Park.
First Half was a close affair. Both teams working well and we went with a 3-2-1 formation with Blake, Leo and Logan in defence who worked really hard and got some great tackles in supporting Rory in goal who is our official No.1 this season . Toby and Reign were the engine room in midefiled and they were everywhere on the pitch with some great running and passing to take pressure off the defence and support Finlay in attack, who got his first 2 goals of the season. I then shuffled a little at water break and brought Archie in to defence who for someone whose never played football before was awesome and fearless! alongside Leo and Blake again Isaac swapped with Finlay in attack and he was doing some intelligent running pulling defence all over that allowed Toby and Reign to bomb forward. But overall it was a solid performance from the kids, everyone did their job perfectly.
Second Half
We shuffled the team around and went with 6 on the pitch and brought in our new recruits Ayla and Louie in to defence supported by Archie. Finlay and Logan’s turn to do the running in midfield and both got a goal each, Finlay also completed his first hat trick of the season. As a reward for all his running Isaac also got a goal to extend our lead to a commanding position despite a player down. After the water break we put Blake and Reign in to midfield. Blake and Leo pushed forward and either should have scored at the end but it wouldn’t go in Ayla and Louie were awesome in defence but with a player down Driglington did press late on an got a couple of goals and this was despite some great saves from Rory in goal, who had a much busier second half!
We were really happy with the team performance, everyone gave it everything and we worked as a team and for the team. Great start to what will be a long season but already a few have surprised me how much they have come along in developing themselves. Really proud and they all should be too!
Player of Match Archie. For his first competitive game he looked like he’s played for years
Thanks to Stuart for referring and to the parents for helping setup and put everything back and our sponsors Property Painting Ltd & C & G Starkey Family Butchers
