Men's 1st Team Vs Barford Tigers 3

Barford Tigers 3rds 6-2 Yardley 1stXI

Goal scorers: Noor Zaman and Alex Makepeace

 This proved to be a ‘tale of two halves’ as Yardley travelled away to face Barford Tigers. The game was played on a cold afternoon with a late push-back.

Both teams enjoyed some good possession early on but it was Tigers who pressed first in the opening minutes, their link up play leading to a few chances early on. Yardley enjoyed some useful attacks of their own, Alex finding Jeevan who ran at the defence but the attack was quickly broken down. Tigers slowly started to get a strong foothold into the game with their striker running on goal and making no mistake. They soon doubled their lead with another goal shortly afterwards. At the re-start Yardley looked a little sharper, with Ricky pressing with the ball but Akib and Noor unable to find a way past.  In goal, Neal Makepeace made some great saves and charged out of his goal to hit the ball to clearance but Tigers soon managed to tap the ball in at the back post to make it 3-0. Alex and Jeevan worked well in tackling a player. A good Yardley attack lead to a short corner. The initial shot was blocked, but Alex ran around the outside of the circle to the byline, creeping into the “D” where his shot took a deflection into the goal, somewhat a surprise to the Tigers who contested the goal, but it stood rightly so.

 At half time Yardley reflected on a mixed performance so far. But much the different to previous games, Yardley slowly found their way and kept up the intensity. Jahed, Harry and Kyle won 50:50s to put the team on the front foot, with Noah, Mat and Ed working well to ease some of the pressure on goal. Although Tigers managed to score for 3 more, it would be Yardley who took charge in the final 10 minutes. Jeevan intercepted the ball in his own half and ran down the left flank, slipping the ball to Noor who make it 6-2. Zach combined well with Kyle and Jeevan to offer further threat late on but with a slippery pitch, it was difficult for umpires to decide which way to give fouls. Harry took a knock to the throat late on and Yardley charged on goal in the final minutes but were unable to claw back what was already a big deficit. 

 Next week, Yardley host Droitwich Spa 1s at home.