Sports vow to bounce straight back

U12's Saturday Division 1
14 /5/11
Radcliffe Olympic 3 Hucknall Sports 2

A frustrating season for Hucknall drew to a close with an away match against Radcliffe Olympic with Sports still needing 3 points to force the YEL to make the final decision on relegation.

After three games in 7 days it was understandable that Sports would be slow out of the block and so it proved to be. Hucknall had to reshuffle the line-up due to a couple of last minute absentees and with the wind blustering at their backs Radcliffe took the lead after 10 mins when a moments hesitation in defence created the breakthrough. Hucknall players were shouting for Radcliffe to put the ball out of play with Ellis Evans flat-out on the floor but unbelievably play continued and Olympic went further into the lead. Obviously little sign of 'sportsmanship' nowadays in the South of Nottingham. But if Radcliffe thought that Hucknall had thrown in the towel they were sadly mistaken. Galvanised by the football of Harry Saxton and Ryan Towle in defence Sports got into their stride and a great pass from Charlie Blatherwick released James Hallam to make a bullet of a shot that the Radcliffe keeper did well to push around the post. Further chances fell to Hucknall and Jacob Barlow was unlucky to see his shot narrowly miss the far post after another good move.

Half-time: Radcliffe Olympic 2 Hucknall Sports 0

Playing with the wind at their backs Hucknall knew they had to get a goal early on to give themselves any chance of getting back into the game and super-striker Hallam obliged by thundering down the right wing to blast a fantastic 14th goal of the season - game on! Sports midfield stepped up to every challenge put in front of them and Mitch Davies, Blatherwick and Tom Eastwood started pushing Hucknall forward for the equaliser. In a reverse of the situation where Radcliffe scored their second goal Sports looked all set to equalise only for play to be stopped for an injury. But Sports pushed again and again, Hallam's fantastic cross narrowly missed out both Eastwood and Barlow with the goal at their mercy to leave players with their heads in hands. Then Radcliffe snatched a third when Hucknall failed to defend a corner but Sports scored soon after when Mitch Davies got on the end of a fine run and cross from Barlow (that's £5.00 you owe him Julian) to setup up a dramatic last minute. Sport supporters held their breath in the final seconds when Towle pushed forward from defence to launch a long-range shot but it sailed agonisingly over and the game was over.

Final Score: Radcliffe Olympic 3 Hucknall Sports 2

A slow start to this game probably cost Sports any chance of victory ultimately, but inconsistent decisions certainly did not help either.

The three main contenders for Man of the Match today were Harry Saxton, James Hallam and Ryan Towle and in truth they probably all deserved the trophy but for his work to snuff out one of the most dangerous strikers in the league the award went to Ryan for a wonderful, strong, defensive performance - brilliant Ryan, well done, fantastic.

With all the breaks in their league fixtures this season it feels like Hucknall have only just established a pattern to their game and the season has come to an end all too soon.
It is small comfort that Sports have only lost by a single goal to teams with 20 more points than them in the last few games of the season but the boys have to take heart from this fact.

Sports may be down, but they are not done!