Playing at Shelfield today, the Warriors fielded an almost complete squad and ignored the chill to play two action packed games.
Our first first match against Sporting Khalsa was a very tough game. However, in the first half it was Warriors who piled on the pressure. Defence when required was excellent with Carter stopping the ball every time. A skilful manoeuvre by Isaac took him into the opposition half where Hayden was waiting . Isaac saw the opportunity and unselfishly passed the ball to Hayden who banged it in the back of the net. Unfortunately, against the run of play, Khalsa had one good break away and equalised. Up to this point, Harry had saved every attempt on goal.
In the second half Khalsa seemed to come to life and made life very difficult for the Warriors. Although, Hayden made some good saves and Isaac and Harry nearly scored, Khalsa evaded the Wyrley defence to score twice by full time.
Our second game against Walsall Wood Saints produced lots of goals. Jack had to make save after save as the Reds pushed past the Wyrley defence. Even so, the Warriors were able to launch an attack that saw Cole pass to Lewis who reached the goalmouth before being stopped at the last second. The tide began to turn in Wyrley’s favour then , Cole hit the post and also passed to Isaac who came close to scoring. Jack saved a long shot that could easily have gone in and then Cole put Warriors in the lead. Wood reacted quickly to this and our boys found themselves having to chase back , but too late – an equaliser was scored. There was more to come as Cole doubled his goal count with a long ball and might have made it three but once again Wood equalised with a great header.
Into the second half and Warriors were in no mood to settle for a draw. When the goalkeeper dropped the ball, Hayden was quick to spot the opportunity and put Warriors ahead again. Wood were not finished yet and twice took advantage of Wyrley’s eagerness to push forward whilst ignoring their defence. However, in the final few moments , despite missing the target to begin with, Hayden carried on and scored the vital equaliser.
Lee praised the team for their commitment but felt defending left room for considerable improvement. Poor marking had led to conceding goals and made the opposition’ s work too easy. Training will concentrate on addressing this weakness. Lee praised Cole for returning to goal scoring form and Carter his tackling defence. Man of the match awards went to Hayden and Isaac for persistence in the face of adversity.
Rob Smith
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