Stanway Rovers Reds v Halstead
It was beautiful sunny day - more like late summer than early autumn and the early fixtures continued to be tough with a game against Halstead and the Reds were vieiwng the game more in trepidation than hope. However the Red started brightly and did the early pressing and had most of the possession for the first 6 or 7 minutes as I think think Halstead were caught cold and were expecting an easier time of it. When Halstead did get the bal forward the Reds defence were playing well , Arthur was winning just about everything in the air and Danny Crouchman was having a storming game at centre half and Elliot and Dan Rhodes when required were clearing their lines. However bit by bit Halstead were finding their stride and sarting to play some more football and showed they also had pace upfront and some pretty skillful players in the middle of the park. Halstead won a corner on about 9 mins and almost scored against the run of play but the near post header came back of the post phew). The striped Halstead players were starting to look menacing and James had to pull of a great save when their CF was through one on one but against the run of play Rovers went down the other end and scored on 17 mins. A good fwd ball from Arthur was chased down by Cameron and Hammer who moved it into the corner but was crowded out from crossing - the ball was laid back to Ed who let fly from about 25yards - it was a good shot but the keeper looked like he would get there only to let it slip through his outstretched arms : 1-0 to Rovers. Halstead pressed forwards for an equaliser but Rovers held firm albeit they rode their luck a bit and James made a number of important saves and faced down a couple of one on one attacks very well. When Rovers got the ball forward Cameron looked menacing but he was often outnumbered 2 and 3 to one. Conversley when Halstead broke they seemed to create the most trouble not with their considered passing through the midfield but with long punts upfield for their pacy number 10 to chase down. Clearly the Rovers players were starting to look tired and were the most relieved team when the ref blew for half time.
Halstead started the second half at a blsitering pace and had three good chances in the opening two minutes with one going into the side netting and another fine 1 on 1 save from james. The Reds were riding their luck but also looked dangerous with the odd breakaway and nearly doubled their lead when a neat one tow between Reg and Cameron on the edge of the box ended with Cameron shot beating the keeper but agonisingly hitting the post and then bouncing back to the keeper. Another long ball saw Cameron outpace the Halstead defence but saw the keeper bravel out to thwart cameron and get injured in the process. Rovers looked to have weatehred the storm and Halstead looked to be getting a little dispirited when another long ball was wacked forward and Halstead turned the Rovers defence and stormed forward and one of them smashed the ball home from the edge fo the box to make it 1:1. Halstead had their tails up again and stormed forward - Rovers were tiring and it was one way traffic for a few minutes and again Rovers looked like they had survived yet another attack when on 20 minutes a hopeful lob back into the box bounced hard on the dry ground and flew over James's outstretched arms to put Halstead into the elad for the first time - heartbreaking. Halstead effectively made the game safe on 24 mins with anothe rgood finnish after yet another fast breakaway through the middle. ROvers however didn't give up and kept battling and gradually got back in the game even though they had to rely on james to amke yet another excellent block when one on one with a hastead player. Rovers were getting closer and Kia drilled one free kick into the box only for it to fall between Cameron and Harry just giving Halstead enough time to scamble the ball out of the box again. Cameron nicked a second goal as a consolation for Rovers as time was almost up which maybe gave Halstead a nervy last minute - particualrly when he chased down another long ball but the keeper came out and just about controlled the ball before the ref blew for full time.
A greta game of footbal played by two very good sides. I think the reds would have settled for 3-2 if it was offerred before the start and whailst they rode their luck at times they all felt very dissappointed to trudge of with no points to show after an excellent performance. James was MOM for a fine dispaly of goal keeping and I feel the whole team grew today and realised they can and will compete well in this league.
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