Close fought win in an even contest

Team Sheet : EthanR, EthanT, Isaac, James, Lewis, Oliver, Rokas, Rui, Stanley, Thomas, Travis

A ghost-written report for our away match to Writtle Minors while I caught up on progress of the Pumas (thank you SarahS for the details). And I missed a colourful game in all senses.

Oliver, the two Ethans, Rui, Travis, Stanley and Lewis got us under way on a cold and breezy morning (parents distracted by delicious smell of a burger van and various helicopters!).

The game started evenly match, Oliver being called into service with an early save that he smothered after the initial save. Lewis then narrowly missed at the other end of the pitch.

The play moved back and forth for a few minutes, and then Writtle broke. A super save by Oliver was picked up by Writtle on the rebound and they were ahead.

From the restart, the Iguanas pressed again with both Stanley and Rui linking up with Lewis, but the resulting shots went wide. EthanR was then pressed into action with some great defending.

Thomas, Isaac, James and Rokas replaced Stanley, Rui and the two Ethans halfway through the half. A quick break after the subs came on the pitch saw Lewis in on goal, and this time the shot was converted.

Writtle pressed from the restart, bringing out some good defending by Isaac. This released Thomas, who applied great pressure Into the Writtle half. Travis made a defence splitting pass to Lewis who narrowly missed netting his second.

The Iguanas kept up this spell of pressure, with Travis hitting the side netting with a great shot. Continuing to press, the Iguanas won a corner which Isaac nearly converted in unorthodox fashion. Then a second corner was well taken by Travis and this time Rokas made sure it was converted.

James put in a solid defensive shift in the last few minutes of this half to help preserve the Iguanas’ lead.

Half time.

Oliver, Rui EthanR, Thomas, EthanT, Stanley and Lewis got the second half under way again. And again, Writtle put the Iguanas under immediate pressure. A quick early shot was saved by Oliver, but with the sun in his eyes he missed the rebound and the scores were level.

The Iguanas tried to get more control of the game, but Writtle pressed from the restart and managed to score another goal in quick succession.

The Iguanas did not get their heads down and continued to battle, with building encouragement from the side-lines. But the play was all Writtle during this spell, forcing lots of saves by the Iguanas’ keeper.

Soaking the pressure up, the Iguanas then managed a neat break from a good throw by Stanley to EthanT. EthanT took the ball down the line and Lewis put a great cross into the bottom corner to draw level once more.

With spirits lifting the Iguanas continued to push. The Writtle keeper was called in to make a save from a corner. But the Iguanas continued to push with several more corners just missing the mark, and the Iguanas unlucky not to be awarded a penalty for hand ball.

Writtle then built on this and finally managed to break into the Iguana’s half again. A good break led to a fierce shot and drew an epic save from Oliver, ripping it over the bar.

Stanley, EthanT, Rui and EthanR were then substituted for the final part of the game, Isaac, Travis, James and Rokas eventually giving them their break after a brief spell where we only had 6 players on the pitch after a mix up!

Travis made a great run from the moment he came on the pitch, but it started to look like the team generally were tiring, and Writtle seemed to be sensing this too, trying to build pressure.

The Iguanas once more soaked this pressure up, Travis now being called upon to get stuck in with solid defensive tackling. This helped us press once more as we closed in on full-time. Good sportsmanship from Writtle resulted in a corner for the Iguanas, which just hit the crossbar. The goal kick went short to a Writtle defender and Thomas and Lewis both pounced from the half-way line. Lewis won the ball from the defender and quickly released Thomas, who equally quickly put the ball in the back of the net!

This proved to be practically the last kick of the match and the Iguanas secured another victory. A tight game that could have gone either way, but the Iguanas fought well and came out with the spoils.

Iguana of the Match : Travis – worked hard, great tackling and loud calls.