A Strong Start Back With Plenty to Build On

Team Sheet : Cole; Ethan; Fearne; Freya; Isaac; Jayden; Lewis; Maddison; Oliver; Sierra; Zach

Another report to start with “first match back after lockdown”. Hopefully this will be the last like this.

A beautiful sunny day at Tabor today, but surprisingly (or maybe not!) very cold. The Iguanas weren’t about to let that bother them though as the team were ready for their first league game back.

Oliver, Ethan, Isaac, Zach, Cole, Lewis and Jayden got the first half under way. Isaac made some good early defensive clearances, and a Galleywood corner came to nothing. This was followed by a rapid break from the back by the Iguanas which saw some lovely control by Jayden down the right of centre and a very nicely taken effort to see the Iguanas up in the space of 5mins. What a start!

Galleywood didn’t let this get them down and pressed nicely, forcing Oliver into a couple of nicely taken saves and collections, feeding the ball out to Cole, Isaac and Zach.

Jayden and Lewis made nice attacks down the left and right wings but good defending by Galleywood seemed to be keeping the Iguanas from extending their lead.

A nice cross from the right then saw Jayden perform a magnificent over shoulder volley giving the Galleywood no chance, seeing the Iguanas further up half way through the first half.

A corner by Galleywood was again nicely handled before Freya came on to give Cole a rest.

Galleywood continued to try and pressure the Iguanas’ half with Isaac tracking back nicely and making good defensive clearances.

Ethan made an amazing last man defensive effort which had he not been so accurate with would have left Galleywood through on goal.

Sierra, Fearne and Maddison came on for Isaac, Lewis and Zach.

Galleywood continued to press and nearly pulled a goal back after a defensive clearance led to a lob shot that just went wide.

Then a further Iguanas’ penalty box scramble led to a nice save by Oliver but a Galleywood player picked up the rebound and hit a shot into the top right of goal that couldn’t be stopped to bring Galleywood back into the game.

Cole came on for Freya a few minutes before half time after she’d worked her socks off getting stuck into tackles and with some nice footwork.

The Iguanas led at the half time whistle.

The second half started well again for Iguanas. No real pressure on their box after everyone had been fired up by the manager’s half time talk.

A Galleywood break quashed by the Iguanas’ defence led to Oliver distributing the ball to Ethan who pressed forwards, slotting the ball through to Cole. Cole passed the ball to Jayden with perfect timing and again Jayden showed brilliant composure on the ball to slot it past the Galleywood keeper for his hat trick!

Galleywood started to apply some pressure now and a couple of corners followed. Oliver was marshalling the players well and a couple of corners resulted in no score for Galleywood. But then a stray clearance from a corner led to a volleyed shot from Galleywood that again could not be stopped, closing the Iguanas' lead once more.

Iguanas were still looking pretty comfortable at this point. A strong shot from Galleywood was blocked by the Iguanas’ defence and Oliver collected it well, smothering the ball. Good battling by Jayden led to a cross from the right but unfortunately there was nobody from the Iguanas able to connect with it.

Galleywood then had another corner midway through the second half which their attack managed to place home in the Iguanas’ goal, levelling the scores.

Fearne, Maddison and Freya came on to give Cole, Issac and Lewis a well earned rest.

There was now a lot of play in the Iguanas’ half and penalty area. Fearne demonstrated her customary footwork down the left, Maddison her dogged determination down the centre. Freya especially worked hard, chasing every ball and getting stuck into tackles against the Galleywood players. All three, with Sierra helping with tracking back, snuffed out Galleywood attacks nicely. But the Iguanas were struggling getting into the final third of the Galleywood half now.

The last few minutes of the game saw an inexhaustible Jayden coming back deep to get the ball and trying to make a breakthrough into the Galleywood area, but Galleywood defended well and prevented a winner, leaving both teams with a hard fought, strong draw at the final whistle.

Iguana of the Match : Jayden – tireless effort all over the pitch and a hat trick for the team. Lovely dribbling and quality finishes.