Mighty 4s Run Out Of Time

Right from the start Sils were put under pressure by a very well organised Sutton side. Their passing was neat, quick and accurate, especially in midfield where they dominated the play. It wasn’t long before their forwards were testing our goalkeeper Josh Bowley. Mick, Mike and Andy battled hard to defend the D but the Sutton forwards broke through and in a remarkable sequence of play fired of multiple shots at close range. With super quick reactions and mind-boggling agility Josh saved them all. Brilliant. Still not finished, one of their forwards fired a shot towards the far post which Mick saved on the line. Quite superb. Unfortunately, the ball went directly to another Sutton forward who scored with a clean hard strike.

Undaunted, Sils worked hard and mounted some effective counter attacks, winning some short corners in the process. We failed to convert these into goals despite two very good shots on target from John and Tom. Towards the end of the half a Sutton defender deflected a ball high into the air in their D and, with his back to the goal, Keith managed a snap shot at chest height which, agonisingly, went just inches past the far post.

Some positional adjustments were made during the break. It was decided that Jonny and Richard would swap positions and Tom would drop deeper into midfield to counter Suttons dominance in that area.

Right from the restart it was obvious that the changes were proving to be effective. Sils began applying much more pressure on Sutton. Tom and Fletch were now gaining much more possession and our midfield began to press much higher. Even Andy was on oxygen! The skill and pace of Tom and Fletch was electric and they even managed to leave Willetts for dead!

With Jonny and John pushing hard down the right and Gregers and Richard doing likewise on the left Sutton began to feel the pressure. Jonny used his blistering pace to stunning effect and John was quite outstanding – tackling to get possession, driving hard down the wing into the far corner and smashing crosses into the D. Great stuff. On the other side, Flash Greger’s charged around with gutsy determination. He channelled the ball forward to Richard with increasing frequency. Richard deployed some deft stickwork to cause the Sutton defence all sorts of problems. A couple of short corners followed with good shots coming from both John and Tom but alas, still no goals.

Their attacks were much less frequent but still dangerous. Mick, Hop-a-long and the Aussie played superbly well to keep Sutton at bay and Josh stopped everything that got past them.

Sutton were on the back foot but to their credit they defended strongly. They were very good at getting men back behind the ball and crowding their D. They often had five and even six men back. Finding the space for a clear shot was very difficult. Also, one of their defenders had a particularly powerful hit and he used this to great advantage on a number of occasions to blast the ball clear to relieve the pressure.

Tom conjured up some magic and wriggled his way clear into the top of the D where he unleashed a fine shot. Unfortunately, it hit the outside of the post, so close again.

Sils earned another short corner just as the whistle went for full time. So, one last chance to score. The ball was injected to Keith who fired it towards the far post. Mick stopped it close to the line and desperately tried to poke it into the goal. He couldn’t quite get enough power on it and their defender cleared the ball. Again, so close but no goal.

The longer the game continued, the more likely Sils looked to score. Unfortunately, we just ran out of time.

This was a very competitive game with both sides playing really well. The game was played in a good spirit and was well umpired by Richard and Tom. Many thanks to them.

No doubt Sutton were both pleased and relieved to hear the final whistle and secure the three points. Sils, on the other hand, were somewhat disappointed not to have earned at least a point. However, they can take pride in in putting up such a good performance against strong opponents.

The Team
Joshua Bowley GK Mick Lane Mike Bettridge Andy Jackman
James Gregory Cpt Jonny Dugdale Richard Foord
John Harrison Fletcher Johns Tom Whitfield Keith Willetts

It was close for man of the match with Josh, John, Tom and Fletch all playing superbly well.

Man of the Match Fletcher Johns