31/01/2015: On Saturday, Mendip Men’s 2nds made the early away trip to Clifton College Sports Centre to face the league leaders. Going with only eleven players and therefore no subs, the task of trying to cause an upset appeared to be almost impossible.
The game started well for Mendip, with most of the Firebrands attacks being soaked up by the midfield and defence early on. This remained the case for at least ten minutes until Firebrands eventually took the lead after around fifteen. From here, the rest of the half was Firebrands’ as their attacks came left, right and centre. Once the half-time whistle had been blown, the damage had already been done, with Firebrands taking a 6-0 lead. From here there were two options; to either ‘shut up shop’ and minimise the damage in the second-half or to continue as it were and hope at clinching a few goals back.
Determined to build in the second-half and take Firebrands on with their own attacks, Mendip then found themselves leaving large amounts of space in-between the midfield and defence. Firebrands leapt on this weak spot, taking advantage and scoring another two goals midway through the second-half. At this point, it looked likely that a score line consisting of double figures was on the cards.
However, it has never been the ‘Mendip way’ to just roll over to the opposition. For the last 10 minutes, Mendip put the home side on the back foot and finished the game as the stronger side. James England prevented the Firebrands goalkeeper from keeping a clean sheet after hitting a clean reverse-stick shot into the corner. Then, in quick succession, Toby Green popped up to score an almost identical goal, following a darting run by Will Holmes on the right wing and pin-point pass to Toby at the top of the D. Both of these goals were as good as any of Firebrands’ and it was no less than what the team deserved, considering their ‘never say die’ attitude.
The game finished at 8-2 and despite this, the feeling in the team after was good because of how strong they’d finished. If this can be replicated for next week’s 12 o’clock tie at Norton Hill against Bristol & West D, it’s going to be a cracker!
The Team: Barry Sewell, Andy Baird, Austin Sage, Karl Birk, Toby Green, Will Holmes, James England, Keelan Shearn, Mike Bristowe, Paul Woolway (Capt.), Chris Hampshire.
Mike Bristowe
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