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Euxton Villa 0 - 11 Highfield
Grange
Players; Matthew Boyle, Connor Lewis,
Mikey Maddison (c), Nathan Southern, Samuel Fenn, Kieran
Horabin, Sam Holroyd, Brendan Goulden, Liam Curran,Adam
Hayward.
Following
the injustice and hurt of last week, we were at home
today to play the mighty Highfield Grange... again. It
did seem at little unfair that we were having to face
them twice in three weeks but who are we to moan about
fixtures, and on the back of a win and a draw and two
really good performances by Euxton we had a chance to
prove ourselves, show how much we had settled and
improved as a team. And after the boys successful team
building trip to watch Wigan V Watford yesterday they
were fired up, ready for the challenge, or so we
thought!!
From the
moment the game kicked off we allowed Highfield to take
possession of the ball and we were immediately punished
in the opening few moments by conceding a goal. Never
mind still plenty of time to get into the game. But as
the game pressed on so did the pressure of Highfield
Grange, our defenders working so hard to try and keep
them at bay but with little support from the midfield
who seemed to have gone to sleep it was like fighting a
losing battle and all too soon we were 0-2 down.
Still all
to play for, the boys were getting plenty of
encouragement and support from their managers and
spectators, they kept their heads up and tried to get
back into the game, an early substitution saw veterans
Sam and Adam on the pitch, fresh legs to stretch
Highfield's game plan, but the boys playing out of
position led to a little confusion and a frantic
scramble to the goal line to help out the defenders led
to a call for hand ball and quite rightly a penalty
given. Surely the odds were against us but Matthew stood
strong and the penalty was saved, now a chance for us to
turn things round. And we did manage to get a break, a
ball was played through to Nathan who took it in his
stride and having beaten the goalkeeper aimed a shot on
goal, we were all jumping up and down but it was a
little premature as his shot hit the post. The chance
seemed to spur Euxton on, for a few minutes anyway, but
the strength of Highfield Grange was too much and again
we were another goal down 0-4. Things were starting to
slide out of control and now we were furtively clock
watching hoping for a breather from the Highfield
onslaught, but not before they had scored a fifth, and
we finished the first half 5-0 down.
Half-time, a chance to take stock, prepare for round
two.
Second
half, 5-0 down could be worse, if we could just get a
goal it would be enough for the boys, but no Highfield
were not going to let us down gently, from the onset of
the second half our boys were being stretched to their
limits, up and down the pitch they ran, chasing balls
trying to close down players, but we were simply
outplayed, substitutions were made, the team was
switched, the boys were given plenty of instruction ...
only encouragement of course... from both sides until we
were nearly hoarse, but nothing could alter the way we
played, and we were 0-6 down then 0-7. I kind of wanted
to stop counting now, but there was still time to play
...8, 9, 10, 11 goals went in and finally we were spared
any more heartache as the final whistle blew.
What can
I say, Highfield Grange certainly deserve to be top of
the league, they are a well organised team whereas we
still have some groundwork to do. Football is a team
game and requires 100% effort from everyone to the team,
to support each other and play as a team all of the
time. We took a real hammering today which we didn't
really deserve but we are better than that and I am sure
that we will see an improvement in the next few weeks.
Man Of The Match; Mikey Maddison
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