This was a very evenly matched and very competitive game. Both teams worked hard to get into the danger area (the “D”) to score. Hampton had the better of the first half, being able to run through midfield breaking quickly on the counter attack. Our defenders Muhammed, John Ballard (adult 1) Noah thwarted these attempts constantly and Hampton never tested our keeper Anthony (adult 2) in this half. Our midfield team work was good to see and the improvements from last week continued to show again this week. The Badgers are gelling as a team and once your Captain solves our goal scoring problems we should start to get a few more victories under our belts.
Jack our regular keeper helped the team this week, as he was injured he volunteered to play outfield. He worked hard finding space and making good intelligent runs into the oppositions defence. Aysha was holding our midfield and played her best game this season so far. Her younger brother Zak was also making good tackles and breaking up Hamptons play. Both teams 0-0 at half time and the game was evenly poised. The result could have gone either way, but John Ballard’s half time team talk bolstered the Badgers self-belief. They could win the game.
Aysha and Jordan stayed central midfield throughout this half, commanding the whole team. Support from Ubaydah and Rahmann was consistent in both halves and they stemmed many Hampton runs. Edan, Sean and Ross worked hard up front trying to find space and lose their markers. This half Yardley pressed hard and tested the Hampton solitary Adult defender but he managed to hold off most of our attacking challenges. Edan did manage a shot on target, in a goal mouth scramble, but the keeper saved it.
The home team’s first goal began from a “16” as John passed it to Jordan, who went past two midfielders. Jordan then laid the ball off to Ross. A quick one to two and Jordan was one on one with the keeper, placing the ball bottom left corner 1-0. Hampton unused to being behind began to get agitated losing their team shape. They tried more individual skills and lost the midfield to Yardley. The Yardley second goal again began with John, this time passing to Rahman, who passed to Aysha, who passed to Jordan who crossed to Ross in the “D” and he put it away 2-0. Hampton Badgers are a young, highly technical team and our older team had to work hard for the win, but work hard they did.
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