Once again we arrived at Castlefield bathed in perfect conditions for football. I’m sure the chilly, frosty mornings will come soon enough, but for the moment the sunshine is more than welcome. It was good to be back to back with Team Weavers and see their hit out as well.
We knew that this match was going to be tough as St Bedes were one of the better sides we faced last year. We were led out by Max and Ryan to a very loud and raucous reception.
We had the ideal start. Hudson looked like he was primed for another big match with some early screamers even though he kicked the wrong way a few times. The teamwork between Ryan, Jody and Ben H to know where each other were headed was great to see. It ended with Ben H getting us a big goal. Isaac was getting it down to our guys first in the middle. Mitch, with a sore finger, was providing a massive target at CHF. It ended with him about 30m out close to the siren and he went…BANG! Straight through the eye diddle diddle. We ended the term with a great advantage.
St Bedes were always going to hit back hard and the 2nd term saw them get on top and pepper the goals. Fortunately for us they could only manage behinds. Michael, who had also been bed ridden for a few days, was killing it at FB. Jimmy came on and got a few important clearances and Matty continued his confidence building play with his big kicks forward. James had an interesting morning knocking a tooth out and then running on to give us some spark. We still had our noses in front at the main break.
The 3rd term was another tight tussle. We had plenty of run out of defence with Giddy, Jack and Wes getting busy. Kaden was throwing himself into every tackle. Max and Jake were running hard through the middle to get to every contest in front of the opposition. Charlie came into the middle and was pivotal in us staying with them. He has started fighting hard now with real purpose and it’s great to see him grow in confidence and even get a kick or two into his stats. We hadn’t scored since the 1st qtr but were still ahead going into the last term.
We were looking for big things from our big game forwards in the last qtr. Harry had been quiet and was getting hungry for the contest. Will was asked for a big effort and Ben W needed to get himself in the game. We gave Kian a rev up and he responded by playing a stellar last qtr in the backline with some key possessions and a great mark. We lost our way a little bit and the St Bedes boys took full opportunity to finish over the top of us.
We go to the bye having been out played, albeit momentarily, in the past two games. The boys need continuous reinforcement to listen and learn and we will always strive to do well. Enjoy the break. God save the queen! I’ll be playing golf and having a red or two in Heathcote.
We’ll train hard the next 2 weeks as we come up against Sth Melbourne again.
Go Hampton Rovers – best mates!
Cheers
Wayno
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