Home advantage coming off a terrible defeat last week. Manager Holt was worried about numbers with new partnerships being created and old boys coming back into the squad. The Coach welcomed back David (Trigger) Pike back from his european duties. In Form Phil Farr was ready to show his goal scoring form that had his name all over the facebook sports pages in the week.
The game started in a more serious mannor than last week, Manager Holt had to get the point across that slacking off would not be tollerated. The requirement of getting the ball back in 10 seconds was made and the lads started strong, from the centre kick we hussled and retrieved the ball in quick time. It should be mentioned here that the opposition only had 10 men and therefore played a 4-3-2 formation, however during the first half you would not have noticed they had 10, it felt like the had 13 on the pitch, but that was partly down to how we played.
Coach had chances, a stroke over the bar from Dave Farr, prolific goal scorer Dave Evens hit wide and had a shot saved from the keeper in the first half. Trent Vale had a keeper whose kick was reaching our penalty box and we took far too long to realise this, Dave Evans made the call along with Sam Ward to drop deeper on goal kicks as they appeared to find their way through a lot. A free kick given away on the right wingers side by Mike Holt allowed their first chance which was headed over on the cross. A few moments later their winger was attacking and crossed the ball which struck the hand of Mike Holt in the box, nothing he could do but the whistle was blown and the penalty was given. The taker stepped up but Mark Greatrex read the situation well and made not only a save but kept hold of the ball. Fantastic work.
10 minutes later Kieran Greatrex was let lose down our right wing, flicked a ball over to Dave Evans who headed across to Phil Farr who took a touch and calmly finished past the keepers right hand side. 1-0 to the Coach.
During the second half, the Coach upped their game, the first half performance was not especially good but we played a solid game, forcing most of their shots to be outside the box. Holt was trying too much in the box and that caused issues for our own defence.
However, Second half there was much better passing and much more composure at the back. Mark Greatrex's kicked was put into full gear whose distribution was amazing, pinging balls to Dave, Phil and Keiran up top. Allowing the lads to push on. After 15 minutes it looked as if Coach were on the back foot, Trent Vale had several chances that went wide, were blocked, saved or went over. Coach were hanging in there.
Although, after a wild shot from a set piece, Mark gathered the ball as he had been doing all game and smashed a ball to Phil Farr up top, control of a Godess, took it down, one on one with the keeper and slotted home to make 2-0 against the run of play. Relief for the coach.
A few minutes later Dave Evans was sent through on a defensive mistake and attempted to chip what is the largest keeper in the league. Needless to say this was not successful. He did not want that free pint. When asked about this shot Evans responded 'well, I have too many drinks at the pub and I wanted to allow some of the other lads to get on the scoresheet, Next week I will crack on, 20 pints just isnt enough'
They threw men forward at this point playing what looked like 3 or 4 up top leaving our midfield a lot of time. through this we achieved a couple of corners that worked for us. Dave Farr whipped in a back stick ball, Holt got his head to it and directed it towards Zlatan Ward who put it just over the ball. When asked about the miss after the game he was quoted as saying 'the ball from Holt was too good, i did not expect that'. Another corner was again whipped back stick and Holt attempted to scoop it back into play but the keepers safe hands gathered it. The third corner allowed Dave Evans to glance a header just by the keepers right post. A few more corners followed to no avail and more players stayed back to hold the lead.
A string of passes in midfield allowed Dave Evans to slot Phil Farr through again one on one with the keeper and he calmly coverted his hat-trick. When interviewd after the game Phil said ' to be honest a career first hat-trick is good, but to be honest i was only thinking about the 6 free pints'
Dave Farr saw his name in lights when he attempted a screamer that unfortunatley ended up on the road which is quite far away from the pitch.
Substitutes were made, Pete Walker made a commanding Defensive header to contribute to our clean sheet, Jason Harnett kept his communication strong and Box to Box Kyle Stanway never stopped running.
A solid performance today, although we were on the back foot, the fact we pulled together as a team and stayed solid we came away with the 3 points. A shout out to Mark Greatrex with his Sunday football Holditch, Talisman, Coach and Horses first clean sheet. More to come we hope.
