The Men’s 4th team got the second half of the season under way with a well-deserved victory against a Sandbach side who have soundly beaten us on the last four occasions. We needed to be at our best to have any chance and, thankfully, we were. Right from the off, we put Sandbach under pressure with a high work rate and some great passing play that quickly led to Del tucking away a neat finish for 1–0. Matt C then had a low shot well saved by the Sandbach keeper, while Arlo also kept us in it with some great work between the sticks. Sandbach were fortunate to score from a short corner to level things up. Charlie C tried to repeat his tactic of getting himself yellow-carded to put us back on top; it didn’t have the desired effect this time though, and we went in at 1–1.

A lively debate during the interval was rounded off with a fire-and-brimstone speech from Matt C that had Seb teary-eyed and shouting “Hallelujah!” and “Praise the 4s!”. Nevertheless, this was exactly what we needed, as Del scored again early in the second half with another poacher’s finish for 2–1. Sandbach still had a bit left in the tank at this point and managed to force a short corner, which they converted for 2–2.

Following this setback, however, we had the ascendancy. Gus J was tearing around the top of the pitch with some hard pressing and tackling, and with the rest of the team following his lead we created a run of chances which eventually culminated in a classic PJ rocket that flew past the keeper’s head before he could even get a glove up. 3–2.

The last 15 minutes were hard work. Gus J was unlucky not to score and put us out of sight, and Sandbach resorted to punting the ball upfield. Our defence, marshalled by Kirky and Jack H, were cool, calm, and collected, however, and we saw the game out for a great victory to start the year.

Special mention to umpires Claire and Finn, who did a great job in testing circumstances, shall we say.

MOTM: Del — two well-taken goals
DOTD: Gus J — tackling so hard he mislaid the finesse required to put the ball in the net from a metre out

Next up: Crewe 3s away, 11.30am, Sat 24th