MATCH REPORT 20/09/2014 Boston Athletic V Railway Athletic If you want to build a fortress you need several things to set it up. You need stone, a moat, a drawbridge and 5 defenders. Today Boston Athletic decided to park the proverbial bus with an untested but strategic 5-4-1 fortress formation. We were playing promotion hopefuls Railway Athletic, a team that should realistically be in division 2, and could easily hold there own in division 1 that has been destroying teams since the start of the season. Luckily this week we had Will Wareing back on hand to fortify our defence. But this wasnt the only change to the team. A role reversal between Mike Mcphail and Matt Howden saw Matt playing in the center with Mikey in the hole. Buzzing to exert some of his piles upon piles of energy mike was closing down very well and early on won a free kick when a stray foot caught him painfully in the eye. However, this was not enough to deter our skipper as he soldiered on and resumed his striking position and waited for the black eye to show. The credit this game goes to the whole of the back line. Jay Martin, James Christopher, Will Wareing, Ian workhorse Keal and Jamie Jay Wadlow did an incredible job at manning the walls of our fortress and kept most attacks to a bare minimum. Jack Smedley had also remembered to bring his lucky gloves and made several key saves, including a very well taken catch from a corner. More to this, when the midfield got the ball under control there was some great through balls played to Matt and Mike which the defence unfortunately were able to get the better of. Matthew Nundy was his usual ball winning self in the middle and James Thorn was also getting involved in the action, a run with the ball was almost made glorious but he was unlucky not to pick out Kris Holland on the left wing who had acres of space. By the end of the half we could see that our opposition were getting frustrated. They had kept possession of the ball better and were happy to pass it around the defence, but this was all part of the plan. they can keep the ball for as long as they want but they will not breach our fortress!! (Insert Gandalf quote here) Sadly in the closing stages of the half we conceded from a loose ball that was hit goal bound. We entered half time 1 goal down but with the flag on our fortress still flying high (and the handbrake of the bus firmly in place.) Score at Half Time 0 - 1 To keep things fresh, James Thorn was Substituted for Dec Chester who continued the shift that James had put in. The second half was really much the same as the first and there isnt really a lot extra to mention. Our opposition, although keeping the majority of the possession, became even more frustrated as they had been accustomed to winning games by half time. The defence carried on exactly where they left off and Jack Smedly continued to pick up the loose balls. Jamie Grooby was introduced when Matt Howden twisted his already tender ankle (Nothing serious I hope!) and an exhausted looking Mikey was replaced with Katrina N Matthew Trigg. Our opposition looked hungry. They came close to a second from a very scrappy piece of play, with Jack in no mans land it was certainly going to be 2 - 0! But Will was having none of this and denied the shot with an excellent goal line clearance which typified the mood of the defence for the game. However, it was in the 85th Minute when cracks started to appear in the fortress. A superbly struck volley was hit from outside the box and dipped in over Jack. Nothing he could have done there. then, frustratingly, with almost the last piece of play in the game a low powered shot just trickled in out of reach of Jack making the final score 0 - 3. In conclusion, Railway Athletic are a very good side and have been turning teams over by 8 -11 goals. Heads dropped after there stunning 2nd in the 85th minute, but very well played by everyone. Almost a shame to not have lost 1 - 0. Credit to Jamie Wadlow for the formation which clearly worked with regards to damage limitation. Next week we face Heckington Millers in the cup!
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 20:01:21 +0000
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