4’s lose to the Third team.

The match verses the Third team is always a difficult match to play. The 4’s are on a hiding to nothing. Any positive result would harm the chances the 3’s winning the league. However, the game today could not be said that it wasn’t competitive. The 4’s were always determined not to make it easy for them.
The 4’s pushed back and immediately put the third team under pressure with Lee Paris performing a dribbling run into the heart of the opposition defense. With the rest of the 4’s trailing in his wake the move inevitably broke down and the ball was coming back the other way.
The game ebbed and flowed with neither team really gaining a foothold. The gulf in class between the two teams was not really evident with some bright play from both sides but the 3’s always threatened that they could turn it up a notch or two. Defensively, the fours were holding firm with Ludwig making some telling tackles in midfield to disrupt the play of 3’s.
The 4’s were missing some defensive players today and had to employ Harry Chambers in a new role as left back. But he took to the position like a duck to water. Playing with some poise and skill he put in a man of the match performance. His all round play was excellent and saved the 4’s blushes on a number of occasions.
The deadlock was broken, around the 15 minute mark when a lofted ball from the midfield of threes caught out the defending team. Andy Bull stole a yard on the 4’s captain and managed to knock the ball down so that it snuck into the goal just past the right hand stick. A nice bit of skill which showed the away team that they couldn’t take any chances.
Despite as much effort as they could muster, 4’s just couldn’t get the ball into the opposition D often enough. Plenty of huffing and puffing but no end result. A few long balls into the box just couldn’t connect with the stick of an onrushing attacker.
Towards the end of the half the two defensive mistakes occurred within a relatively short time to gift the 3’s the remaining two goals.
The first is solely down to the 4’s Captain. A long ball from the 3’s midfield forward was fired down the right hand side of the pitch. Smith moved from central defence across to meet the ball. Then in what can only be described as a “senior moment” decide to shepherd the ball across the back line instead of taking the easy clearance over the sideline despite the desperate pleas from his team mates. At this point there was absolutely no pressure on the skipper. However, from reports from the disbelieving players watching on, Finn Smith sprinted 40 yards to nick the ball from his hapless former captain, to calmly slot the ball home. A poor goal to give away.
The second defensive lapse came 5 minutes later on when after some concerted efforts around the D from the 3’s, Harry Chambers collected the ball and could have cleared easily and safely to the sideline. He proceeded to pass the ball back into danger straight back to the 3’s who then proceeded to pass the ball into the net. A rare mistake from someone who was otherwise excellent.
3-0 down at half time didn’t bode well for the forthcoming half. Some encouraging words at halftime and a determination to improve their defensive play.
The second half proved to be an excellent spectacle. The 3’s tried mightily to score again but a resolute defensive play all over the pitch foiled their numerous attacks. The 4’s also had the odd opportunity to attack but to little avail. The game finished with no further goals being scored.
The 3’s will be buoyed by this result to maintain their 2 goal cushion at the top of the table.
The Fourth team can take great heart from their overall performance and that despite some costly mistakes showed that they are difficult to beat from open play which bodes well for the rest of the season.
Next week the 4’s travel to the fens to face Ely City HC 2’s who sit in second place in the table. A difficult game but one where will be aiming to get a result to help the third team to reach their goal.