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Saturday 29th September 2018 (10.00am)
Beech Farm Playing Fields #4, Victoria Ln, Swinton, M27 0NH
Referee: Harry McLellan-Grant
Won: 3-2 (HT 0-1)
Goals: Henry Errington, Alfie Rostron (2)
MotM: Henry Errington
For the second consecutive game, the Hurricanes players faced a team from Barr Hill. However, this time it was at home and against the Clubs (rather than away against the Aces) and they proved to be far tougher opposition!
Hurricanes were without goalkeeper Oliver Dalton-Bunker, who was missing his first league game in four year with the club, so Oliver Williams bravely volunteered to wear the gloves. He was in for a busy morning as the visitors started brightly and had the lion’s share of the early possession.
After 5 minutes of pressure on the Hurricanes’ defence, one of the Barr Hill strikers hammered a shot on goal from just outside of the box which just evaded the ‘keepers grasp as the wet ball spun into the home side’s net for the opening goal of the game, which Barr Hill had probably deserved.
This seemed to spark the Beechfield players into life though and they began to compete more effectively in the middle of the park, which led to increased possession and a handful of chances on goal. The best of their efforts saw a great shot from Alfie Rostron beat the Clubs’ goalkeeper but cannon off the inside of the post before being scrambled clear to maintain the visitors’ lead.
As the first half wore on, the Barr Hill team continued to appear stronger and more dangerous, and stand-in keeper Oliver Williams had to make a number of important saves and clearances before handing over the gloves to one of his team-mates. Alfie Rostron had started the game brightly up-front but selflessly agreed to do his bit for the team and went in goal for the latter part of the second half. He was certainly kept busy and made a number of saves, including a great one-handed effort to block a shot just before half time that seemed destined for the top corner.
During the half time interval, the normally mild-manner coach Ben Robinson decided that his team needed a wake-up call and gave them a bit of the hair-dryer treatment! This had a huge impact as his team looked like a different side in the second half as they dominated position and possession, making it a real “game of two halves”.
Joshua Whitehead responded positively to the coaches’ input at half time as he unselfishly volunteered to take his turn in goal and played an important role in the second half, keeping the Clubs’ counter-attacks at bay. Thankfully those counter-attacks were relatively few and far between as the home team began to play better, more flowing, football and dominated second half possession.
Jamie Maher put in some crunching tackles and found plenty of space down the right-hand side, and Oliver Williams also battled hard against some of the biggest Barr Hill defenders down the left-hand side, which helped to create a number of chances for Daniel Robinson and Alfie Rostron. Oliver Hall won everything in the middle of the park, and made a number of dangerous bursts forward, despite some very heavy-handed treatment from the opposition midfielders who just couldn’t keep up with him.
Amaan Khan whipped in a series of dangerous corners which helped a number of Beechfield players to go close, as the pressure increased on the visitor’s defence. That pressure paid off after just 10 minutes of the second half as Henry Errington picked up the ball inside his own half, soared into the opposition territory and fired home a great shot over the goalkeeper’s head and into the roof of the net.
This was no more than the Hurricanes’ deserved and they quickly went in search of another goal as the Barr Hill ‘keeper was forced to make a number of inspired saves. However, he was unable to prevent the inevitable as Alfie Rostron showed great footwork inside the box to twist and turn through some defenders who were almost twice his size, before blasting home a close range shot to give the home team a deserved lead.
The away defence was starting to look increasingly ragged, and this was not helped by one of the visitor’s parents, who shouted “Who is marking Number 4?!” as they defended a corner. This obviously confused the Barr Hill players completely, as he hadn’t realised that Josh Whitehead, Henry Errington, Oliver Hall and Alfie Rostron all had the number 4 on the back of their shirts!?!
Fabio Figueiredo and Dillan Caldwell had kept the Barr Hill attackers very quiet in the second half, and both worked really hard to stop any potential counter-attacks and fed some clever passes out from the back to re-launch the Hurricanes’ forward play. However, with just 10 minutes left to play, a long ball forwards that looked to be rolling out for a goal kick held up in the long grass and gave the away team their first possession of the second half in the Beechfield box. Unfortunately, they made this count as, despite a series of last-ditch blocks and challenges, the ball ricocheted kindly for a Barr Hill striker who managed to tap in from point-blank range.
This looked to have secured the away team a share of the spoils that they really didn’t seem to deserve after the Hurricanes’ second half dominance. However, the home team were not done yet and another break from man of the match Henry Errington, followed by good work from Daniel Robinson, led to a chance for top-scorer Alfie Rostron who rattled home his second goal of the game, and ninth of the season.
Every one of the Beechfield boys ran themselves into the ground during the final few minutes to protect their lead as they secured their third consecutive win of the season, in undoubtedly their toughest (and most exciting!) game so far. Many of the Hurricanes’ players turned in excellent second half performances, having looked a little sluggish in the first part of the game, but Ben Robinson and his assistant Glenn Whitehead must take some of the credit for their inspired team talk at half time which completely turned the game on its head, and helped to secure a superb victory
The Hurricanes squad for the match was: Dillan Caldwell, Oliver Hall, Jamie Maher, Daniel Robinson, Joshua Whitehead, Henry Errington, Fabio Figueiredo, Amaan Khan, Alfie Rostron and Oliver Williams.