Play It Again Sam !

Report by Steve Aylin

FIRST POINTS OF THE SEASON

I always used to love it when the teleprinter on BBC's Saturday evening Final Score would spell out the number of goals if the tally was especially high - e.g. Birmingham City 0 Aston Villa 6 (six) - so it was especially pleasing to be part of a game with the scoreline Silz 7 (seven) Warwick 4 - a fine way to gain our first points.

My memory of each of our goals is sketchy so these are the facts as I saw them -

Keith got one - clinical finishing from a yard out, following a flowing move involving Charlie, Jacob, Rushy and John
Sam got three - each of them “Exocet” strikes
Andy got three - typically Rushy, weaving through and around the defence, drawing the keeper and flicking the ball into the Warwick net

Defensively we were mostly effective with some notable moments -

Yogi kept us in the game with several timely kicks and blocks.
Mick relentlessly pushed his winger out wide and managed to repeatedly shell the ball up the line.
Charlie had another stunner including some 3D skills and some huge tackles on players of twice his height.
Dave changed the match for us by suggesting that we would hold our shape much better if we went to a flat back 4 - we were able then to mark much tighter and to allow their attackers less space - the midfielders also rose to this change in tactics by remorselessly tracking their players as they crossed our 25yd line.

The midfield were determined throughout -

James, Jack, Alex, Jacob and John never stopped and played in any number of positions with confidence and style. Sam pulled the strings and gave us the continual expectation that the next ball would be a good one.

Upfront -

Keith and Andy were always available and were always willing to give and go. They both played with belief and energy and gave us all the sense that this match was only going to finish with 3 points for the team.

MoM - EVERYONE had a good game, but the well deserved recipient was ........