Match Report - Under 8's, Sat 12th January 2008 at Rocklands.
Published date - Wed 16/01/08

Rocklands 0 - 3 Thorpe Rovers
Hillside 0 - 1 Rocklands
Hillside 2 - 3 Thorpe Rovers

This week the squad comprising of Jak, Dillon, Sam, Zak, Connor, John & Adam travelled to Rocklands to play both the hosts and Thorpe Rovers.

The first game between Rocklands and Thorpe Rovers ended with Thorpe winning 3-0. This game saw the introduction of a promising new referee. The crowd immediately warmed to his calm & relaxed style. One spectator was even heard to have said “Cor look at his lovely new shiny whistle & stop watch!!!”

Hillside ’s starting line up of Jak, Dillon, Sam, Zak & Connor started what is always a difficult game where you are trying to play a team fired up from their previous encounter.

To be fair Hillside did not look too sharp in the first half as they rallied to find their tempo and where very unfortunate to finish 1-0 down at half time, after an extremely dubious free kick was given just outside the box. But you have to play to the referees decisions.

The second half saw the introduction of John in place of Sam. Hillside produced a much stronger effort and were unfortunate not to get the equaliser. We just needed to get our shots away a bit sooner instead of taking the extra touch. Final score 1-0 to Rockland.

The team for the second game started with John, Dillon, Jak, Connor & Adam. This game turned out to be the best entertainment of the morning with both sides playing end to end football. The first half saw both teams playing well but without either making a break through.

The team remained unchanged for the start of the second half. Thorpe opened the scoring but this was soon cancelled out by a well taken chance by Connor. This foray became the pattern for the rest of the half.

Thorpe got a second goal from a free kick just outside the box shortly cancelled out by Zak scoring well for Hillside.

Unfortunately Thorpe got a third and despite our best efforts we could not get the equaliser in the remaining time.

This was a spirited Hillside performance with all of the boys putting in a lot of effort. With performances like this is must only be a matter of time before we get that elusive win.

Duncan Crouch