Sils 5 – Redditch 2

Report by Mick Lane.

A good early start to the match saw John Harrison send a superb cross into the D where it was met by Andy Rush and the Redditch keeper had to make a double save to stop both the initial shot and the follow up by Andy Rush. The Redditch forwards were quickly closed down when they were awarded the first of several short corners. Tony Jamieson repeatedly found John Harrison in space on the wing from the 16 yard hits and the great wide soon developed into good attacking crosses and several shooting chances. One such cross led to the opening goal for the Sils in the 19th minute, well taken by Andy Rush.

Pass of the match came from Keith Willetts who found Andy Rush in space to score his and the Sils’ second goal in the 32nd minute. In less than a minute, however, a good individual goal by Redditch brought the score back to 1-2. In the last third of the half we lost our shape and Redditch seemed to increase their energy and determination.
At half time Dave Higgins reminded us all of the second half improvement last week against Warwick and the importance of scoring the next goal. Andy Rush obliged less than a minute into the second half and scored that vital goal, thereby completing his hat-trick – 3-1 to the Sils.

Redditch to their credit continued to press forward whenever they had possession and their three short corners in quick succession led to their second goal in the game in the 49th minute. This spurred on Redditch and both defences had to absorb pressure as the match ebbed and flowed.

Harpreet Atwal picked the ball in midfield and found Andy Rush with a great pass. His shot was well saved by the Redditch keeper but Keith Willetts was the quickest to react and scored from the rebound in the 58th minute. Another shot from Andy Rush, after a good run through an indecisive Redditch defence was cleared by the Redditch keeper only as far as John Harrison whose powerful shot earned him our 5th goal in the 62nd minute. A great save from the Redditch keeper denied Andy Rush a fourth goal.

Redditch had three more short corners before the end of the match. Two shots on target were steered round the post by Mick Lane and at the shot from the final short corner given as full time was blown Craig Ffitch, who had an impressive game on the left, shepherded the ball as it hit the outside of the left post.

Although the Sils were down to 10 men on two occasions in the match (one green and one yellow), Redditch failed to score when they had the numerical advantage. Once again our second half performance was an improvement on the first half. Jogi gave a faultless performance throughout the match, the back four were strong in defending the numerous Redditch attacks, and good use of substitutions kept the midfield (well supported by Shaun Bates on several occasions) and forwards fresh throughout the match.

A Captain’s view from the boundary:
1. MOTM: Rushy for his hat-trick although the back 4 were tremendous.
2. Next week's meet time is 3pm as we will have a "whiteboard session" before warming up.
3. "Every day is a school day". It transpired after the match that both Shaun & John had personal commitments that meant they needed to leave straight after the game. How did Shaun prepare? By asking Mrs Bates to drive to the game to pick him up so they could leave immediately. What did John do? Get a yellow after 65 minutes. Equally effective but old habits .....
4. Climate change: a real concern for us, our children, our grandchildren, but more importantly, Heinz. This is because Pat is yet to place her order for the "soup season" as it's so warm even though we're in October. My advice is simple, get out of "foods" and put it all into "gold bullion".