Well Oiled Machine

We headed out on a glorious Saturday afternoon to the Hive to play our most competitive game of the season so far, away to NUFC Oilers. It turned out to be exactly that and seeing the team in the bar beforehand, we could see we were up against a big side.
The pitch was a long walk but once you get there, you are rewarded with a lovely big flat pitch with plenty of grass. We definitely wouldn’t be going into the changing rooms at half time. There were some chances from both sides and both keepers did their jobs to keep a stalemate.
 
The first half was very tight and competitive with the weather changing by the minute. It started off with a gale and turned into a thunderstorm with halestones. Even the Gods were against us! However we managed to get to the second half goalless against the wind, the storm and the biggest team we have come across so far (Not just tall).
 
The second half started the same way with everyone getting soaked, and then the game livened up with chances from both sides. The first was a one on one against our consistent club captain Jack Robery who duly obliged with a magnificent stop which we are starting to take for granted. We then made a change bringing on Marcus Fatogun who was starting his first game for the ones  and was our only player that matched up to the size of their players. We weren’t to know but this seemed to change the game as they started to worry about our man mountain! Shortly after we scored a bizarre goal from a Chris Morgan free kick that was bundled into the roof of the net. How it got there through the mass of bodies is a mystery but we will take the good fortune. It was down to Jack Robery now to keep us in the game by pulling off a treble save that defied logic. They were gutted and their momentum withered slightly. Jacks saves added to the goal was a killer for them. They didn’t give up but they found that they had something else on their mind when  the inspired substitution of Marcus Fatogun was sucking up there focus, allowing other players more space and time. Marcus went on to show he wasn’t just a physical option by going on a couple of jinking runs that had their defence in knots. It was one of these runs on  the byline that he went on and then cut back to Chris Morgan to make it 2. NUFC can feel hard done by as this was the hardest game so far.
 
My man of the match this week was a toss up with a 3 sided coin. Marcus Fatogun  by changing the opponents focus, Chris Morgan for his 2 goals or Jack Robery for his inspired goalkeeping. In the end it had to be Jack Robery for keeping us in the game on more than one occasion but also for not throwing one in this week.