Men's 3rd XI Vs Nottingham Players 3

Match report South Notts 3’s Vs Players 3s
Sam McNeil reporting 

Top of the table South traveled to Players with a bare 11 for a match that needed a result to stay top.

Players had pushback and South immediately went on the attack needing to control the game from the off due to Players having subs. South quickly started playing well as a team leading to a lovely quick team goal driving up the pitch. Grozzy played a lovely 1-2 with Ellz before threading an incisive through ball to Sam who slotted it past the goalkeeper. 1-0.

South came back at Players quickly after the restart, winning the ball in the South half and then playing the ball through the defense straight to Ellz. Ellz then played a lovely reverse to Grozzy who then calmly slotted it past the keeper into the bottom corner. 2-0.

Keeping up the press on Players, South then drove up the pitch again with Jimbo playing a sharp pass through the Players D, straight to Grozzy at the back post who slotted it in for South 3rd and his 2nd. 3-0. 

There was a moment of calm from the South goal scoring with plenty of holding play in the center of the pitch Craig Bingham and Harry Strutt helping to calm the tempo and direct the play. 

Pushing forward yet again South crowded into the players D and kept the pressure on forcing mistakes. This resulted in a penalty corner - Ellz injected to Grozzy who slipped the ball to Ben W who shot at goal hitting a Players stick ending up in the back of the net. 4-0

Before half time the bare South 11 began to tire resulting in a couple of mistakes all over pitch, ending up in a Players short. After taking a deflection the ball was put into the South net for a lucky Players goal. 4-1.

At half time the captain gave some much needed encouragement to the tired players. The team just needed to keep spirits up and play for each other. Holding as we did in the first half and pressing up when the chances presented themselves.   

Starting the second half as they had been before the late Players goal, South got up the pitch quickly. The ball was lost in the Players D before the attempted aerial from the Players defence was deftly picked off by Grozzy, who attempted to play it out wide to Sam before it was deflected off a defenders stick back to Grozzy who reversed the ball into the players net. 5-1.

Winning the ball back after the restart South again piled the pressure on with the ball ending up with Ben who played a heavy ball through to Grozzy who again tried to lay it off to Sam but again it took a deflection. This bounced up in front of the Players goal allowing Grozzy to catch it just right so that the ball rocketed into the roof of the net. 6-1.

After all this frantic action Players came back strongly at a tiring South. With some heroic defending from Andy Wallice, Craig Lawson, James Brydon and Ben Walker clearing our lines time and time again and some superb saves from Simon Recaldin keeping Players at bay despite their fresh legs thanks to their subs.

However after an individual bit of skill from a Players forward, and a nicely timed reverse, a goal was claimed from the sustained pressure. 6-2

Emboldened to reinstate the 5 goal buffer South started to match players pressure. With runs from all over the pitch especially up the left from Will Bingham who made himself a nuisance of the Players forwards and defense alike, allowing South to win many balls in the Players half. 

This pressure resulted in a short for South. Played into Grozzy at the top of the D he slipped it to Harry Strutt on the left who precisely placed it past the defense and goalkeeper into the goal at the near post. 7-2.

Despite South’s quality all over the pitch the 11 man south picked up some nocks and minor injuries. This, combined with the tiredness that was setting in with a vengeance allowed Players to find a couple of late goals. These, however, came to late and the whistle blew for full time. 7-4.

The result sees South maintain the top of the table with 2 games in hand. 

Many thanks to Players and the umpires for the relatively clean game.