Bromsgrove Rovers AFC U14 3 vs 1 Hampton Reds U14

Today we travelled to a rejuvenated Bromsgrove who secured their first point of the season last week and were looking to build on that against an out-of-form Reds. We were missing Ollie through illness and Kielan was also away, so kept up the season trend of not having a full match day squad ??.

The game started bright, despite my early concerns with some of their lads being absolutely huge, the Reds looked up for the fight and were actually getting hold of the ball in the middle of the park and playing some nice stuff.

Unfortunately that bit of luck is not with us at the moment and was clearly with Bromsgrove, where the attacker managed to block a clearance from Harrison/Fyn and it spun back into the far corner, 1-0.

This did not drop the heads of the spirited Reds, and they had some fire in their bellies. Some nice footwork from Zack Ferrara gave him the space he needed to pick a pass, and he slotted Omar through only for Omar’s shot to go agonisingly wide of the post. Bromsgrove did look a threat and were playing some very direct stuff, with Harrison coming out to clear everything in his path, but the latest one earning him a harsh booking for a foul on the striker, I didn’t even think it was a foul.

Hampton finally got the goal they deserved when Omar twisted and turned his way into the box and then coolly slotting past the keeper, 1-1 and all to play for.

Half time 1-1.

We all felt in the half time talk that we could now go on and win this.

When you’re trying to get out of a rut, you really need that bit of luck to go with it, and lady luck was really not with us today. Bromsgrove grabbed themselves another fortunate goal, with the initial shot blocked it fell kindly for the striker to pop past a stranded Harrison. This did knock the wind out of the Reds sails and really lifted Bromsgrove. The Reds were still fighting though and carving out chances, with Rushy, Omar, Charlie all coming close. Harry also had a shot from long range but we just couldn’t make that net bulge again. Bromsgrove hit us with the sucker blow when the ball broke free in the box and was slammed home. 3-1 and that’s how it finished.

We’ve had some really poor results this season and lost games without desire, fight, effort, but this was not one of them. This was a very evenly contested match between two honest sides and to be fair, Bromsgrove are much-improved, we’ve played them at the wrong time of the season where they’ve reset and recruited, no longer looking like the whipping boys of the division. With a bit of luck today, we could’ve walked away with something, but it wasn’t to be.

I told the boys after that they shouldn’t be so hard on themselves today, be disappointed yes, but there were definite positives to be taken from the game, not least the fact we managed to get a goal for the first time in a while! Plenty to build on, with 4 games of the season remaining and they are not all beyond our reach when it comes to results!!

Notable performances today all over the pitch and every single player worked their socks off, keep that up lads and the results will soon return.

MOTM today went to Rayyan who covered every blade of grass with a remarkable performance, very unlucky to be on the losing side but showed exactly why he’s captain of the team, well done Ray!!

Keep believing lads, we’re going to upset a couple of teams before the end of the season!!

UTR

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