Whitfield's Wise Words

Match report for 01 February 2020 by Tom Whitfield

After last week’s performance of the season, the return home fixture against Nuneaton 3s (2-2 in October and Nuneaton above us in the league) was always going to be a more hard fought fixture.

The Mighty 4s again numbered 13 (Jonnie Carter in for Josh Bowley, Andy Jackman in for Steve Aylin, and Alex Delaney in for Oliver Harris).

End to end play for the first 10 minutes meant much more work for the centre backs Mike Bettridge and Dave Higgins, with Andy Jackman and Mick lane covering their wings. When Nuneaton did get into the D Jonnie Carter gave another confident performance in goal and Nuneaton short corners were kept out. Quick passing from the back to the hardworking wing outlets (Skipper James Gregory and John Harrison) changed defence into attack and Tom Whitfield, Fletcher Johns, Alex Delaney and William Hodge all used their pace well by passing the ball round the opposition and providing passes into the D. Fletcher, fresh from his brace last week, opened the scoring when his shot from near the penalty spot hit the backboard in the 11th minute. Andy Rush made several attacking runs at the Nuneaton defence to keep the pressure on Nuneaton and in the 24th minute Keith Willetts shot from the top of the D into the bottom left of the goal-arguably his best goal of the season to date.

The half time team talk again mentioned keeping a clean sheet and scoring the next goal. Keith got his second goal in the 43rd minute by deflecting a Tom Whitfield pass through the keeper’s legs.

Nuneaton did have several more short corners but all were kept out. Their closest chance to score to score was a shot which hit the post and ran along the goal line. Mick Lane was there to take the ball out of danger.

As with last week, the substitutions went smoothly, a clean sheet was achieved, and it was another excellent performance by all.

Man Of The Match: Keith Willetts