The Dragons assembled at Leamore Park with a spring in their step after claiming the League title the week before. This weekends fixtures saw us paired off against Sikh Hunters in the Cup, a physical lot with one of the noisiest managers in the league. All the Dragons were primed and ready, well nearly all, Ash ‘The Flash’ turned up with seconds to spare looking like he’d had a good one up Broad Street! The Gaffer gives the tactics and starting line up and the Dragons take to the field. From the moment the whistle blew the Dragons were on it! Battling for every ball and endeavouring to use it when in possession. A sortie into the Hunters area had a shot clearly handled by a Hunter defender. The man in black points to the spot and Captain Marvel – Phoebe Nicholls is already making her way to collect the ball. As she placed the ball the air fell silent apart from the flatulence emitting from Dan Green’s backside. Phoebe steps up and puts her laces through the ball but the shot is straight down the middle and the keeper saves it. Phoebe dusts herself down and gets back to the heart of defence. The game was hotting up and the tackles were flying in but the referee was having none of it. The Hunters took the lead from a speculative strike which bounced just before Reilly ‘The Rock’ and into the net. The Dragons went again! The quality of the passing and interplay was immense. Freya ‘The Slayer’ hit Ash’s quality corner and the ball whistle just wide of the upright. Jim aka ‘Dynamo’ was performing an array of tricks to bamboozle the Hunters defence, his efforts on goal were also thwarted. Countless times where the ball blatantly hit the Hunters hands was missed or ignored by the referee. We even had a 2 handed save by the centre half that was ignored! Was this going to be a Dragons day? The Dragons then embarked on some quality one touch interplay between Phoebe, Freya and Ash that saw ‘The Flash’ banging in the equaliser. The crowd erupted with a cacophony of noise, Messrs Nicholls, Green and Yates going nuts on the opposite side – great scenes. The Gaffer began preparations for extra time and possible penalties with a few tactical changes.
Extra time saw the Dragons absolutely dominating the proceedings and peppered the goal with attempt after attempt. The extra time seemed to pass in a flash and it was the dreaded penalty shootout. Reilly ‘The Rock’ was briefed to give them the eyes and to make himself as big as he can. The 3 likely lads stepped up – Dodger, The Flash and Dynamo. The crowd fell silent for only the heart beat of the Gaffer to be heard. You could visibly see his hair changing colour from jet black to Mourinho grey, he needn’t have worried as Dodger smashed his home, Ash sent the keeper the wrong way and Jim calmly deposited it into the back of the net. Up till now the Hunters had matched like for like but the last taker hit his shot against the upright and pandemonium ensued. The kids and the coaches ran down to greet the Rock and embraced as a team!! The crowd were going ballistic, I’ve never seen them move so much…..not bad for an old bunch…..
No rest for the wicked as the kids were due on against Rostance Edwards in the quarter final. The ref allowed 2 minutes grace in order for the Gaffer to give a team talk / tactics, the major change being the switch of keepers from Reilly to Matty. The game kicked off and Ben ‘The Beast’ staked his dominance on the ball and was making mazy runs into the Edwards defence only to be thwarted by last ditch tackles. Rostance Edwards were also making sorties of their own and would have taken the lead if Matty ‘Wireless’ Nogueira hadn’t had made two spectacular saves to deny them. Halftime arrived with a stalemate, the kids took on some liquids and went again! A free kick awarded to the Dragons brought Phoebe Nicholls up from defence who hit the dead ball into the box where Bill aka ‘Dodger’ turned and smashed the ball in off the crossbar. Great finish followed up with great celebrations. Rostance Edwards were eager to try and get back on terms and should have been awarded a penalty after Kenzie ‘007’ Bond near enough held the ball to which the ref shouted ‘ball to hand’ – who are we to complain?
The ref blew up for full time with the Dragons victorious. The victory ensuring their place in the semi-finals on the 17th May !
Players of the day were Jim and Bill for exceptional effort and skill.
The kids were awarded their league winners medals but due to a cock up by the league not supplying enough, the team decided that they will hand them back until everyone has a medal.
Great kids & great parents = great times
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