Men's 1st Team Vs Kings Heath Pickwick 1

Kings Heath M1s 2-3 City of Birmingham M1s

Goal Scorers: Jeevan Chagger x2, Junaid Ali

A deceiving afternoon with the weather and in the afternoon chill, it was the hosts who got off to a quick start, penning the visitors back into their half and playing exchanges quickly to look for an attack. Sohail, Mat, and David quickly sniffed out the attack and calmed the waters with some lovely passing to the midfield. The visitors had their fair share of chances, Kyle and Jeevan enjoying lots of space on the wing thanks to Zach, Alex, and Ash in midfield. Abrar and Noor continued to make a nuisance of themselves up front. An early exchange of play in the final third saw CoB win a short corner within 4 minutes. Jeevan pushed out to Alex who struck a lifted ball back towards the post, Jeevan deflecting it in for the first goal. CoB enjoyed a lion's share of attack with Alex and Kyle crunching in balls to the back post, with Noor unable to get onto the end of them. Kings Heath looked to react but were put onto the back foot countless times, Alex squaring the ball to Jeevan, lifting it over the keeper for Junaid to tap in for a 2-0 lead, 19 minutes gone.

The exchange of play between both sides kept the game even with Neal called in to make several saves.

Half-time, the team talk was simply to push on and watch for the changing players. As if a copy, within 4 minutes, Kings Heath scored a goal from confusion and scramble, bringing the deficit to one goal. Note to players to keep playing to the whistle! Quickly after, Jeevan won another short corner and the same routine saw Jeevan deflect a lifted strike from Noor into the goal. If the goals weren't enough, Jeevan saw a green card (first in 14 years of the game, what a shame!) for confusion between the umpire's call and a set play. With 10 on the field, CoB still looked strongest with Alex having a chance to sail over the bar. Noor and Abrar too had opportunities saved or parried away by the keeper. Zach, Alex and Ash continued to have a hold on the midfield going forwards with chances on the break. The visitors weren't helped when Kyle then saw a green, for it to be upgraded on the side-lines to a yellow. David and Mat continued to cover well at fullback, sweeping up loose balls, but Kings Heath managed to sneak in a late goal under Neal to worry the visitors to the whistle.