A comfortable victory for Sils 4s but was it enough?

It was great to welcome Steve Aylin back into the side after almost two months out with a troublesome knee injury. Not only did we enjoy his return but he also put in a great performance too – well done Steve.

With the race for second place and promotion being so close Sils needed not just to win but also to score more goals than rivals Edgbaston 7.

With this in mind Sils opened the play with their usual high tempo straight from the whistle. The first fifteen minutes saw Sils pressing high and applying sustained pressure against the visitors defence. Simon Russell opened the score from a short corner, perhaps not the sweetest of strikes but powerful enough to carry the ball into the net.

Simon and Alex worked hard to control the midfield and maintain the pressure by driving forward and keeping Andy and John well supplied with quality balls. It wasn’t long before John put in a great cross to Andy Rush who neatly threaded the ball through a crowded D into the back of the net.

A neat variation on the short corner routine saw the ball slipped back to Andy in the centre and he executed a great slap shot putting the ball high into the net. Unfortunately this was the first shot from the short and the umpire, quite correctly, disallowed the goal.

Lichfield began to resist the pressure with some stout defending and also started to mount some useful attacks. Clearly this was not going to be an easy game. Their right wing attacker knocked the ball right across the face of our goal. Quite how all their forwards missed it I shall never know but this was a lucky let-off for us and a reminder that we needed to keep playing at our best.

Twenty minutes into the half and Andy collected the ball in the centre of the D for a second time. Again he showed great composure in front of goal and accurately drilled the ball into the net through a forest of legs.

With Andy on fire and the midfield pressing high Sils looked set for more goals but despite getting several penalty corners the score remained the same. With about ten minutes of the first half remaining Andy twisted his ankle and hobbled off the pitch. This was a set-back we could well do without. Despite the best efforts of specialist trauma nurse Pat we would be without Andy until late in the second half. At half time the score remained at three nil.

With the second half under way Sils continued to press high. Unfortunately John took a very hefty whack on the knee and although he tried to continue it was obvious he needed to come off for a spell of treatment. Having both Andy and John off the pitch at the same time didn’t help our quest for more goals. Nevertheless we continued to get a succession of short corners but despite getting some good shots on target none found their way into the net.

Fifteen minutes or so into the half Simon passed the ball out to Keith on the right wing. He pushed it past a defender and went on towards the edge of the D before cutting back to Alex at the top of the circle. Alex smashed the ball towards Tony Dwyer who swiped it into the net, at last another goal.

There were times when Lichfield attacked strongly and for the most part our defence played really well and kept them at bay. However they did give us some anxious moments. Their right winger managed to slip through our defence and pass the ball to his centre forward who was waiting on the opposite side of the D. He picked his spot and knocked the ball into the net leaving Yogi with absolutely no chance of making a save. Shortly after this another Lichfield attacker broke through on the left and hit a fine shot towards the far post. It looked every inch a goal until Yogi pulled off a great save with his outstretched leg. Finally, with minutes remaining, their centre forward looked certain to latch onto a great through ball right in front of goal. At this crucial moment Mike Bettridge pulled off a wonderfully timed tackle to come away with the ball and clear the danger. Absolutely exquisite!

This was yet another very good team performance so well played to everyone, keep it up guys.

With the final score at four goals to one Sils had secured the necessary three points but there were doubts as to whether the three goal difference would be enough to gain second place. We waited for the Edgbaston result to appear on the web. Eventually the result popped up to reveal that Edge had beaten Bromsgrove by five goals to nil. This result put them on the same points as us but crucially increased their goal difference to plus three. So they retain second place and we stay third.

Our next fixture is away against, believe it or not, Edgbaston 7. The result of this match will surely decide who finishes second in the table. Our first encounter was a close fought one-all draw and we can expect a tough game.

Unfortunately for us we will be without three of our regular players. They have slipped away to slide down the slippery slopes of snowy mountains in foreign lands.

Shaun was last seen brandishing a very large sèche-cheveux in the changing room of his French ski resort. Standards of skiing in the area have shot up overnight and all cases of constipation have been eradicated. Apparently Hollande is now calling for a Brexit.

Judge John Creed and his house-keeper Betty have gone off-piste to the Swiss Alps. All is not well. The Judge is suffering with the black runs and Betty is suffering from sharp pains up the funiculars.

Man of the Match: Michael Bettridge

Thought for the day re: short corners.

This is the second game in a row when we have had short corners in double figures yet we have only converted one. It is not down to a lack of ability of the players involved. They are all more than skilful enough for the task and success will surely come when the new routines bed in so keep the faith. Simon has certainly got plenty of powerful shots away but many have been straight at the goalkeeper. So here’s a thought. Many strikers still prefer to stand opposite the near post rather than at the top of the D. There are two main reasons for this. One: the injected ball has less distance to travel so takes less time to reach the striker. Two: the straight shot goes close to the defender on the post rather than the goalkeeper. It is much more difficult for the defender to save the shot than the keeper. Also if the keeper decides to counter this by edging over towards the near post he leaves a large portion of the goal on his left vulnerable. I think it is worth a try.