A tough game, but another win

Team Sheet : Coby, EthanT, James, Lewis, Oliver, Rui, Stanley, Travis

Another home fixture, but on an unfamiliar pitch at Deanery Hill due to the pitches at Tabor needing a rest. The team was also further depleted this week, the vagaries of the pandemic keeping players out of action. Oliver, James, Rui, EthanT, Travis, Stanley and Lewis took the starting whistle. The team were going to need to work hard today.

And so it proved. EthanT and Rui were immediately called in for some defensive work from kick off resulting in a corner for the Avengers. This was handled much, much better than in the last half a dozen matches, every Iguanas player knowing what they needed to do and getting the ball clear. But the Avengers continued to attack solidly with nice passing and through play, and a strong shot from just inside the box beat our keeper early in the half.

Travis showed a lot of mobility on the left side and a nice passing break involving most of our outfield saw him just shoot wide. Travis battled again from the goal kick, feeding EthanT for a solid long shot, but the Avengers’ keeper was up for the task and kept them in the lead.

The Avengers pushed again, but the only sound that could be heard was the Iguanas’ keeper yelling instructions to his defenders. He attacked a rushing Avengers’ attacker, gathering the ball at feet brilliantly. A weak pass across the box by the Iguanas’ defence from the goal kick fortunately then saw the resulting shot saved for another corner, and the corner to be taken harmlessly.

The next goal kick started off a fantastic Iguanas’ break, with accurate passing putting the Avengers under pressure, finally. The ball made its way quickly out to the left. Lewis whipped a cross into the box which EthanT skipped over, leaving Stanley clear on the right of the box. With absolute calmness Stanley fired the shot home, leaving the Avengers’ keeper no chance.

As we’ve seen a few times recently, it took the Iguanas a little time to get into the game, but now they were on the move it was much more evenly balanced. A free kick to the Avengers was dealt with readily. A nice passing move between Stanley, Lewis and EthanT saw a shot saved.

Coby gave James a break from his defensive efforts. But still the Avengers pushed. Collecting the ball, Oliver took a neat goal kick which released Lewis on goal, but the shot was saved. A better shot gave the Avengers’ keeper more trouble, but was still kept out of the net.

Having run his socks off, Stanley was given a breather by James. James was quick into the action and released EthanT on goal. Another lovely shot was saved by the Avengers’ keeper, but still the Iguanas pressed hard. And then the breakthrough. The Iguanas won a corner, and having learned from previous games had their players well set once more. Rui in particular had seen the potential for gaps and was placed very well on the left of the box. The corner fizzed in quickly enough that all other players missed it. Rui didn’t. He struck the ball brilliantly, placing it in the bottom right of the goal.

As the half closed out, Stanley came back on to relieve James. The Avengers tried to push through into the Iguanas’ half, but the defence held well, especially Coby, showing his now customary grit and determination and accuracy in the challenge to stifle everything the Avengers threw at them.

Half time.

Oliver, Rui, Travis, Lewis, Stanley, EthanT and James started the second half. All the players were feeling the efforts of the first half (Oliver mostly in the vocal cords!).

The Iguanas got off to a better, spritelier start this time and won a couple of early corners. Unfortunately, the Avengers’ keeper was on good form today and saved both shots.

The Avengers still weren’t afraid to push, though, and made several forays into the Iguanas’ half in the first ten minutes of the restart, but the Iguanas’ defence was much calmer now, exemplified by Rui who was calmly taking the ball and feeding it nicely.

Coby came on for Stanley, who had to quickly return to the action when Rui picked up an injury. The lack of subs, and the tempo of the game were starting to cause problems for the Iguanas who were clearly tiring. At one point it looked like our whole team had gone into slow motion as the world around them moved at double speed!

Coby was solid in defence once more, backed up well by James. The Avengers were pushing hard and it was taking significant effort to keep them at bay, but the Iguanas were digging in.

Having recovered from his injury, Rui gave Coby a break and joined in the defensive efforts. The Avengers were getting stronger, but the Iguanas weren’t finished and put together a couple of good moves. A corner was just headed wide by Lewis, and a nice passing move by Travis, Lewis and EthanT saw a shot again nicely saved.

The Avengers pushed and pushed, but their final efforts on goal were either wide of the mark or neatly collected by Oliver who, despite a fair bit of eagerness earlier in the half, was learning to take his time with his kicks and distribution to give his team mates chance to gather their breath and reduce the amount the Avengers could attack.

Attack after attack was pushed back, with fewer and fewer attempts on goal. The final whistle eventually blew, with much relief from the exhausted Iguanas!

A battling performance today, with so few subs against a team who were very well drilled and clearly expecting a victory from the earlier stages of the game. However, the Iguanas once again grew into the game. The Iguanas are still struggling for that clinical touch to finishing, but despite playing a very good team were creating plenty of chances. Better drilled at set pieces at both ends of the pitch resulted in a fabulous win today. Let’s try and keep it up!

Iguana of the Match : Stanley – ran his heart out, knew what the manager wanted from him and did it, and also scored his first goal of the year. A top performance.