Bare Bones

Match report written by XW.

Back to business today for the Colts with a first league game in the moon like environment of Hatherop Park. No Armstrong or even Titchmarsh but the dry and bobbly surface was .......dry and bobbly.

Last season the Colts put the Tornadoes of Laurel Park to the sword, smashing 6 without reply on 27th January. This time, however, the opposition seemed to have been Summer shopping in Harrods rather than Lidl for new recruits, whilst the Colts were down to the bare bones with a County team call up, illness, and injury meaning we had a threadbare squad. This was going to be a tough opener.

The Tornadoes brought the game straight to Hampton from the off. An excellent stop from Big Hands Wiggins rebounded to their grateful forward who still had plenty to do and finished nicely. There followed a period of pressure on the Hampton goal with another couple of good stops from Big Hands. At the other end Jacob and Adam were getting expertly marshalled and were just not getting much luck, feeding on scraps from long balls. It was Archie who brought the Colts back into the game. Picking up from an excellent pre-season display and making a rare start, Archie played the full 70 minutes and his goal a few minutes before half time was well taken and just what his endeavour deserved.

The middle two of Arvnho and Bertinho were covering so much ground in the middle but were moving a little too wide on occasion, as they clearly felt just playing one position was a bit boring. The theme of the half time team talk was of keeping shape and battling that little bit harder up front.

It wasn't long into the second half when Seif played a beautiful weighted ball through to Jacob for his 9th goal in 4 games with a cute finish from a tight angle.

We have often seen the opposition buckle in such circumstances but with the Tornadoes back line as good as anything this young Colts side has faced, chances were few and far between.

Laurel Park always looked a threat and it took some alert defending and goalkeeping to keep them out. Unfortunately, however, two quick goals followed to turn the game on its head.

It was going to take steel rather than flair to get anything from the match and the Colts impressively battled back, showing a spine of concrete, for a point with a first league goal for the energetic and exciting Adam.

I suspect that Laurel Park will be towards the top of the table this season and Colts should therefore be very pleased with the point. The boys who came in did well.

Goals Archie, Jacob, Adam
MOTM shared between Arvinho, Bertinho and Big Hands
Crowd: Nervous
Weather: Sunny spells