Final Score: Barton FC: 3 Shinfield : 5
Weather conditions: Cloudy
Match Started at: 9:31:48
Match Time: 00:82:03
Play Time: 00:82:03
Red Cards: 0
Yellow Cards: 0
Penalty Kicks: Barton FC: 0 Shinfield : 0
Free Kicks: Barton FC: 6 Shinfield : 8
Corner Kicks: Barton FC: 4 Shinfield : 3
Offsides: Barton FC: 0 Shinfield : 0
Substitutions: Barton FC: 5 Shinfield : 8
The weather was deceptive this morning… Looked like a nice morning for a kickabout but that 13 degrees felt like -5 in the strong, biting wind on the hill at Calcot. The pitch was soft and during the warm up the ball was sticking and ground passes had less zip than a snail at full throttle. We experts at the touchline half expected a game dictated by the conditions and we were not far from the truth.
From the kick off for about 5 mins the boys kept the ball low and were passing well with 4-5 pass combinations but the style all fizzled out as the winds got stronger. Voices from the touchline got drowned out by the howling winds and it felt like the Pete’s voice boomeranged back to the touchline. Lofted balls were pointless as the wind would either carry the ball further than expected or make it drop like a lead balloon. All this was making it very difficult for both sets of lads. On the 21st min one long ball fell short and JackB failed to clear the ball resulting in Barton striker darting forward and shooting just beyond Luis’ reach to make it 1-0. Soon after another long ball chased by Barton’s striker ricocheted of a clearance by our keeper to make it 2-0. Heads were down but both goals were cheap and it was early so panicking would play into Barton;s hands, Then on the 31st minute a great pass from Gazza to Calum, who from 30 yards launched a shot at goal and scored.. 2-1. Amazing goal!!!. Our confidence grew as the lads started to chase down balls with some good defending. Then from nowhere before the half ends Gazza claimed a goal that came in from a free kick. 2-2. Good turnaround but the final result was looking more unpredictable.
Second half starts and Barton came out very strong. On the 44th min their striker chased down a long ball and made it 3-2 from nowhere. This game was turning out like the old ‘Blow Football’ table game (pre-PlayStation and xbox 😉 ) where a leaf blower would be of more use. As the gusts got stronger the pattern of play become more ad-hoc and erratic. This game was going to be decided more on luck and making most of any chances that the weather permitted. Then Aiden, on the 49th min, was presented with such a chance. He galloped with the ball down the left, clear from their defence and ended his mini-goal drought.. 3-3 – a strong and confident shot to level the score. The free kicks count started to increase and Barton had 4 chances on the left near the box to float the ball in but each time the wind almost carried it towards the goal.. on each attempt it got closer and closer. Surely, this match couldn’t be decided on this!!! Thankfully not… After 72nd min a great goal from Ellis.. keeping his goal tally ticking over from the hat trick last week. As what seemed like a long last 10 mins we finally sealed the win with an fantastic goal from Damon. Who on the 75th min made it 3-5 to us.. the conditions were difficult but the boys came back well to get a good result.
I’d like to the Barton boys for a great entertaining match and I’d like to call out JackB and Jacob for some great running and Luis for a brave performance in goal.
Regards,
Sanjay