Under 11's. Division 5. Away v Hazel Grove United

Result - Reddish North End 2 Hazel Grove United 3

This was a rescheduled match brought forward due to us having a bye in the League cup. We played Hazel Grove last week at their ground, so today's game should have been at home, but for reasons to complicated to explain we were away.

This was pretty much the same as last week when we played Hazel Grove, a well fought game and another good display.
We had a few players out for this game, Lewis Marley couldn't get to the ground, Aaron our Keeper was out sick, Lewis W was out sick, Josh was out aswell. This left us a little short in Midfield and on the left side. However, we battled hard against a well organized Hazel Grove side.

We went 2 - 0 down in the first half with 2 good goals from their strikers. We fought hard to come back.
Declan had a great game today and got stuck in. Brandon was as ever solid at the back with Matt and Issac. Our passing looked very good today, some nice one touch football and give & go passing on the right side helped open the opposition up a bit.
The ball was making its way to the wings and crosses were getting in, creating opportunities for our strikers to score. We had lots of chances in the first half, most falling to Henry who had four or five but couldn't hit the target. He did however get on the end of a loose ball in the Grove penalty area and slot one home just before half time, there were shouts for offside, but it wasn't. 2 - 1 at half time.

Second half we came out and matched a very good Hazel Grove side. A lot of play was down a very congested left side of the pitch and a loose ball found Hazel Grove coming at us again, some nice passes from them and a good finish leaves us 3 - 1 down.

Credit to our boys, they didn't give up and pushed on. Once the boys realised it was time to switch the play and get the ball out wide and use the acres of space Nathan had on the right, things began to develop. More and more chances came, again Henry had a pot full of crosses that fell to him but his shots couldn't find the target.
We managed a well deserved goal from the amount of play we had and the sheer pressure we applied going for goal. A loose ball found its way to Patrick's left foot, a neatly placed strike into the left bottom corner, 3 -2. Game on!

We pressed for an equalizer with great football being played by both teams. Nathan had 2 great chances, again a run in from the right but with no passing options in the box he had a crack with only the keeper to beat but his shot was straight at the keeper. (Either side of the keeper please Nathan) His second effort was better, about 15 yards out - a half volley shot that lifted and dipped, it looked like it was dropping in but the keeper managed to jump high enough and save with his fingers, great effort and great save.

We pushed all the way to the final whistle but couldn't get that elusive equalizer. We could have won this game by a long way if our finishing was better. Well done all our lads, it was a superb game of football. We looked a very good team today and you should be very proud, Hazel Grove United are a quality team and we have held our own in both these games. Man of the match could have gone to every single player in our side today, However it was Pat by a whisker.

Scorers : Henry (1) Patrick (1)

Man of the match : Patrick