What a beautiful day for watching some good football. It was a bit on the warm side for just standing on the sidelines, and possibly for playing, too. The pitch was [as] perfect [as its going to be this season]. And its far too hot for being inside typing up match reports!
Claypole kicked off, attacking the Bowling Green End. Both teams were wary of each other for the first two minutes, but Farndon quickly took the game by the scruff of its neck. Henry missed with a shot after good work early on. An attack broke when Claypole gave the ball away from the resulting goal-kick. Dylan's shot was blocked but it fell to James Scott who nipped round two defenders and slotted the ball home. He worked hard to get the second goal in the seventh minute, a solo run into the area and a well struck shot.
The game was fought out in midfield for the next ten to fifteen minutes, with Farndon showing some real fight that had been missing from their last pre-season friendly against the Under 10s on Thursday. James Wilson and Dylan both had shots blocked in this period before an avalanche of shots from Dylan, Max and James W. Henry was working well on the flank and took Tom's role of corner-taking and put some great balls into the area.
Max re-opened the scoring on 23 minutes with a great strike. Archie had moved into midfield after a brief break when Jake had come on at right back. He found himself in the right place to pop in goal number 4 on 25 minutes after a great cross from Henry. The shots and crosses rained in for the rest of the first half with everybody putting in a good shift. Jake had started to show some real confidence on the ball and was picking out and making some great passes along the right hand channel. Will was clearly feeling comfortable and the boys used him well to build attacks from the back. He made some great calls and commanded his area.
Archie had to leave the field with an injured wrist a few minutes before half time and, after some ice treatment at the side of the pitch, his Dad took him to A&E to get his injury checked out.
In the second half, Farndon defended the Car Park End and the half started slowly until, out of nothing, James Scott notched another goal for his hat-trick on 34 minutes. Not content with that, Scottie got his fourth just 45 seconds later after Dylan pushed in a cross from the byeline. On 39 minutes, James got his fifth and there seemed to be no stopping him. Four minutes later, James Wilson got Farndon's 8th goal and the fact that Claypole had no subs was starting to tell and there were some very tired legs in the white shirts.
For the last 15 minutes, Xander and Jake moved into midfield with James S and Henry dropping back into defence. Dylan got goal number 9 a few minutes later with a great solo effort and he and Xander both got a couple of shots in that narrowly missed the target. James Scott crashed another effort against the post before Max pounced with his second goal on 58 minutes.
The final goal went to that man James Scott in the 60th minute after Xander slotted a perfect through ball to him at the edge of the Claypole area.
Final Score : Farndon Colts 11 - 0 Claypole Warriors
We should give credit to Claypole. That was their first taste of life in Division 1 but hopefully they will soon wipe that memory away. Their heads never dropped today and they kept on fighting. If they carry on like that and pick up a couple of extra players along the way, they will probably do alright.
Our best wishes go to Archie who is now in plaster with a broken wrist after being hit by a missile strike of a ball. He's out for 4-6 weeks so we need to make sure that we're in a good league position for him to return to. Get well soon, Archie
