| Match Report |
Match report SNHC 3rd XI vs Newark 3’s (away):
Captain Stuart “Grozzy” Croston reporting:
The first pre season friendly of the new campaign saw the all-new, but very experienced 3rd team line up against a their hosts who sit in the league above. The lack of post lockdown fitness was apparent across the team, with only a few showing they hadn’t succumbed to the ever present temptations posed by food and alcohol whilst avoiding the deadly COVID virus!
The pre-match talk started with a reminder for all regarding the new rules required to keep everyone safe and to enjoy our new found freedom to play the sport we all love!
It was clear Newark were the fitter side as they had the better of the opening skirmishes, but as ever, the guile and experience of the South side soon brought the young Newark keeper into the game as some excellent passing between Alex Butler, Andy “AJ”Jenkins and Chris “Cotters” Cotterill through the centre of the park found skipper Stuart “Grozzy” Croston in the D twice, only for the keeper to save well with his pads.
The deadlock was broken by the home side with a close range finish and followed up pretty quickly from a short corner breakdown, with South’s keeper-chairman Simon Recaldin stranded in the horizontal position, the Newark forward slotted into a vacant near post area. 2-0 Newark.
With the introduction South’s substitutes of young Toby Clough and not so young James Knappett, the tide turned and a goal was scored by the venerable Lord Richard Butler from close range. HT 2-1.
The second half began with more than a few South players feeling the heat and the lack of fitness saw us lose a little shape, so a slight adjustment was needed to shore up the gaping holes through the centre of the park! This brought a nice period of play where AJ found himself in acres of space and fired home on the edge of the D! 2-2! Game on! But not for long as Newark’s tactics to “rush” from the restart brought a short corner where they bundled in their 3rd.. 3-2.
By now, both teams were struggling with the warm conditions and the lack of fitness, but the experienced South team with a back line including Brian Blackmore, Leon Pinkney, Neil Batty and Craig Lawson held firm and it was from one of Craig’s unorthodox reverse stick block tackles that the ball found its way to Grozzy playing in an unfamiliar midfield role, who powered the ball upfield for Lord Richard Butler to lay off to AJ on the right wing who pinged an inch perfect cross for Elliot “Ellz” Dixon to finish first time into the roof of the net! Great team goal! 3-3!
This probably would have been a fair result, but with Toby C bamboozling the Newark defence , the pressure told and a p-flick was awarded. Skipper Grozzy walked up and slotted the finish low to the keepers right. The whole team, now almost out on their feet, used their skills of game management to see out the match, final score, Newark 3 - South 4!
Great start to the campaign!
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