At the fifth attempt BMHHFA Under 10s finally registered their first ever win this afternoon. With three draws and a loss in their previous four games the team was hungry for victory and ruthlessly seized the opportunity against a relatively inexperienced HHIS team.
HHIS started very brightly with William seeing a lot of the ball on the left wing and Nick and Alex linking up well in the middle. The former should have given BMHHFA an early lead but hit the outside of the post with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Alex was nominally a defender but was pushing up very high which left the game extremely open. Despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession BMHHFA went a goal down after an incisive HHIS counter attack left defender Caspian on his own against two HHIS forwards, who converted from close range.
Despite the setback Alex, who normally plays in midfield, continued to push forwards and support the attacks and this strategy paid dividends when he grabbed the equalizer after more good work from William down the left. Disaster would strike on the cusp of half time when one of our defenders left the pitch to tie his shoelaces, leaving Caspian completely overrun at the back as HHIS took a 2-1 lead.
BMHHFA made a couple of alterations at half time. Nick moved out to the wing, Alex pushed up into his normal position of central midfield, William swapped with his brother in goal and Sam and Danny took over defensive duties with Caspian becoming the sole striker.
With Sam and Danny maintaining their positional discipline and Alex free to display his fine range of passing further up the pitch BMHHFA looked much more solid. Nick suddenly found space on the wing and his surging runs were a feature of the half with the team creating countless chances and winning numerous corners from the right flank.
The goals started to flow with Nick grabbing a brace, Alex scoring his second and Arwin getting his name on the scoresheet. Centre half Sam was responsible for the most eye catching goal, with a speculative punt from near the halfway line sailing over the HHIS goalkeeper, who had an excellent game.
The players seemed to grow in confidence during the game and it was good to hear so much communication from the people on the pitch. The coaches are delighted to see how rapidly the team is improving and next up is the visit of Seahorse on November 24th.