Under 12's. Home v Brendon Bees

  Result - Reddish North End 3 Brendon Bees 3

An entertaining and very enjoyable game of football today, with a draw being a fair result. Reddish played well in parts but were distinctly ordinary in others - poor at times - and in the end I was happy with a point considering we were within a whisker of being 4-1 down with less than a quarter of the game to go. 

Callum B was nominated man of the match and he was certainly the outstanding performer today, producing heroics at both ends of the pitch.
At midway in the second half, with Reddish 3-1 down and not playing at all well, he somehow got back to hook a goal-bound Bees shot off the line. Within what seemed like a few moments he was in the Bees penalty area slamming home a loose ball to reduce the arrears, and he continued to work tirelessly. It was entirely fitting that he reacted quickest to Sam’s cross-shot and got Reddish level with two minutes left. 

Sam also had a good game today, putting Reddish in front with an excellent finish and causing plenty of problems with runs and crosses in the second half. Unfortunately the boys just didn’t work hard enough after taking the lead, and dithered on numerous occasions when defending. We were eventually made to pay for our slackness as the Bees equalised just before half-time. Straight after half time the sloppy Reddish play inexplicably continued, which cost us two goals, and I was a bit concerned to see heads go down. 

However, Callum’s inspiring intervention turned things round, but at 2-3 the boys were indebted to goalie Callum for pulling off a save every bit as breathtaking as the earlier one I mentioned. A Bees player had slid onto a loose ball 6 yards out and poked it forwards for a certain goal, but Callum threw himself at the ball and astonishingly palmed it away. Great stuff! Shortly afterwards came our equaliser, although had we made the most of several other promising opportunities we could have been celebrating a win. 

But like I said a draw was a fair result for a cracking game played in a good spirit, really well reffed as well by Laura Gilmour who thankfully was able to stand in this morning. Perhaps the boys were a bit rusty having not played for two weeks, and with one of our team becoming unwell during the game, and some others having up-and-down games, I am pleased with the fighting spirit the boys showed to keep their unbeaten run going since the Clayton match. To get something out of games when not playing well is an achievement in anyone’s book. 

Our next two games are away and then home to the in-form AFC Oldham who are just a point behind us now, so hopefully the weather will allow us to get these matches completed. These games will be a good test for the boys; although we have already beaten Oldham twice this season they are on a good run, so hopefully everyone will be at their best next week.

Scorers : Callum B (2) Sam (1)

Man of the match : Callum B