Frozen Mojo scuppers Mighty Fours promo (hopes)

Sils started the day in fifth place, buoyed by a series of convincing wins and great teamwork. However, they came up against a well-organised Saints unit that capitalised on a surprisingly below-par performance from the Mighty Fours.

The first half belonged to the away side on balance, with stats for possession (how much and where it was), short corner and shot count, outnumbering those of the Sils. That they trailed the Mighty Fours at half-time was thanks to a wonder strike midway through the first 35 from Willetts and clever defending from the home team, who thwarted Saints attacking forays effectively time after time. Sils grew into the game after the goal and started to use the flanks to great effect, with Jackman and Harrison linking with Harris, Johns and Delaney purposefully,

HT 1-0

The team talk was quite straight forward. Everyone knew that a more intense work-rate, better structure and distribution, was key to winning the second half. Indeed it was, but on this occasion it was the Saints who came marching in, scoring three goals in a relatively bad-tempered second half as Sils made several errors including an unfortunate, even bizarre own goal.

At 1-3 Sils finally started to show glimpses of the form that has seen them win five of the last six games. As the Saints brought John Wayne on to circle the wagons and prepare to withstand a Sils onslaught, Andy Rush linked up with the skipper and the Wizard of Oz, to fire home at close range and halve the deficit.

As the clock ticked down, it wasn’t clear who would take the points or whether they would be shared. For the home side Johns and Willetts almost managed to equalise from short corners in the dying minutes whilst the home defence saw out four short corners in the space of three minutes to deny Saints a fourth.

When the final whistle was blown, Sils reflected on a game that they had lost, rather than one that the away side had won (if you know what I mean). Sometimes you learn more from defeat than victory, and this was definitely the case for the Mighty Fours.

Thanks to Richard and Simon for umpiring. Onto the next game knowing that we can, and must, play better, and that the wine kitty for the dinner is fatter.

FT Old Sils 2 Northampton Saints 3
MoM : a difficult one, Ollie Harris deserves a mention for a solid shift in the right side of the pitch, and edges it for this reason