Men's 3rd XI Vs Ashby 4

South Nottm 3’s Vs Ashby 4’s Match Report 
Captain Stuart “Grozzy” Croston reporting.

A grey blustery day at The Banks saw South welcome the only other team to take points off the  home side when a 2-2 draw was played out early in the season on a day where the skipper had a bad day the office, missing a number of chances.. 

A much changed South side saw a makeshift back 4 of Graham Jonhson, Craig Bingham, Andy Wallace and Gary Pickering who were tasked with keeping a very well drilled Ashby team away from Alex Heron’s goal.  

The plan was set the night before to try to utilise our youthful wide players - Sam McNeil & Robbie while trying to keep the useful experienced central Ashby unit quiet using our own wily mids Adam Sharpie Sharpe and Chris Cotters Cotterill.  This plan was scuppered minutes before the start when Sharpie was unable to get away from work, so Daniel Recaldin stepped in and the bare 11 got the match underway. 

A frenetic opening few minutes saw Ashby earn a Penalty Corner that they dispatched after a few attempts. 0-1

This gave South a wake up call and a lovely passing move from a strong 16 hit from Andy W found Grozzy who passed the ball into the right channel to Sam, he squared the ball to Elliot Ellz Dixon in the D, a slip left to Robbie resulted in a cracking reverse to open South’s account. 1-1

Almost straight from the restart, South broke again, Ellz was put through 1 on 1 with the keeper, who mowed the South forward down just as he slipped the ball to Grozzy who slapped the ball at goal only to see the Ashby defender lie down on the floor to block the shot on the line. P Flick. Grozzy stepped up to continue his record of scoring in every match played this season only to fire the ball towards “top bins” and see the ball smash back out off the upright- DoD awarded accordingly- still 1-1. 

A little controversial passage of play saw Andy W feel aggrieved that the next Ashby goal stood after he felt he was being blocked by the opposing player. 1-2.

More end to end action followed and on the stroke of halftime, South earned a PC of their own. The injection from Ellz found Grozzy who squeezed a deft flick into the bottom corner under pressure. 2-2!

Half time saw the introduction of the absent Sharpie which gave a few South players a welcome breather.. Skipper Grozzy urged the defence to maintain composure on the ball as few mistakes had started to creep in with panicked swipes and clattering tackles giving away an increasing number of fouls. 

The second half started as the first had ended with battles all over the pitch - Ashby scored again from another PC 2-3! 

It looked like it was going to be one of those days for the hosts until Sharpie asserted himself on the game, picked up the ball in the centre of the park, drove forward and fired an arrowed pass into the D where Grozzy neatly deflected into the net to draw level again 3-3.

South then pressed harder to gain a hold on the match, earning another PC when the Ashby defender ran through the back of the skipper in the D.  Grozzy completed his hat-trick with a rocket strike into the bottom corner 4-3. 

South pressed again, the skipper intercepted an Ashby 16 hit, bobbled a filthy  pass through 3 players to Ellz who squared for Sam McNeil to nutmeg the keeper giving them a 2 goal cushion. 5-3

The fun and games hadn’t finished as Ashby earned a P Flick that was dispatched just past the diving Alex to shorten the deficit to just 1 goal. 5-4.

Squeaky bum time lasted only a matter of seconds as South saw out the win to stretch the lead at the top to 9 points. 

Many thanks to Simon and Jim for keeping us in check, great job guys!