Gregson Lane 1   Euxton Villa  5

Due to the Gregson Lane pitch being unfit, this match was switched to Euxton and, after a couple of scares due to misplaced / forgotten football boots, kicked off in good conditions . With Matty away James D wore the No 1 jersey with Lee coming into midfield.

Euxton playing with the advantage of the slope started brightly and after 4 minutes were ahead. A clearance from the GL defence was met well by Jack E and having won the ball, he played it into the box. Connor worked under pressure and laid the ball back to Lewis who finished well. It was just the start we needed.

After 9 minutes we conceded due a mistake by the coach ! A ball was dropping to George to the right hand side of the penalty box and he shaped to put his foot through it to clear our lines. Instead he got a shout of "time" from his coach on the touchline and instead brought it down, only to be robbed by the GL forward who was able to shoot past James at the near post. I will hold my hands up to that one.

George's afternoon was not improved when 2 minutes later he went into a 50:50 challenge with the GL forward and got a stud down the top of his foot causing him to spend the rest of the match with an ice pack as a sock. Dominic dropped into the defence with Joe replacing him on the right.

After 17 minutes we regained the lead when the ball fell to Connor at the edge of the box and he lobbed the goalkeeper for an intelligent finish. The rest of the half was in the main Euxton's, though Dominic and Jack had to be alert to breakaways.

At half time we emphasised the need to keep tight and to be prepared to head the ball in defence as we were now going uphill. We knew however a third goal would probably win it.

Thankfully we only had to wait 2 minutes for it. A strong run down the right from Joe enabled the ball to come into Connor. He got into the box and drew the goalkeeper before pulling the ball back for Josh on the penalty spot . Josh did well to finish avoiding the 2 defenders on the line.

Six minutes later we got a fourth. After some strong tackles in midfield we got the ball into Connor's feet inside the box and he finished in the bottom corner. It had been a good start to the second half as we had effectively killed the game off when we might have been put under pressure.

On 43 minutes Connor got his hat trick, getting in front of his defender and drawing the keeper for a cool finish. A good hat trick for a player who gets frustrated when he doesn't score. He shouldn't - that's 41 goals this season.

We managed to get all our subs on and give everyone a a good run and played some good football. It was a nice win but it was more competitive that the score suggests. Dominic and Jack still had plenty of work to do in the second half - the fact that we protected James in goal to collecting the ball from long range efforts says a lot.

Man of the Match : Dominic - never missed a thing