Christmas comes early for Sports

U15's Saturday Division One Notts Youth League

Hucknall Sports 4 Long Eaton Utd 1

14/12/13

Hucknall Sports White final game of 2013 in Division One pitched them at home to third-placed Long Eaton Utd. It’s was fair to say that United had been Sports bogey team and in eight years of trying Hucknall had not registered a single victory. But with confidence at a high after a run of three matches unbeaten Hucknall sensed that this might be their best chance of a stunning victory.

The only change to Sports starting line-up was Jarrod Davies who recently returned to Sports after a spell with Long Eaton. Davies partnered Joe Newton at the heart of one of the leagues outstanding defences with Dylan Smith and Kieran Green playing in the wing-back positions. After a Man of the Match performance the previous week Ellis Evans was selected to partner the ever-dangerous James Hallam up front.

With the wind at their backs Long Eaton started the better of the two teams and settled into their customary sleek style of play. A nice move saw United’s Jack Warner find Bailey Walker in the box and he cleverly side footed home. However, this only served to galvanise Sports into action and soon the gaps started to appear in front of the opposition goal. Dante Diriso, Matt Leivers and Evans all had chances but were unable to find the net. Sports breakthrough came after great work from Hallam saw him drive to the byline and pull the ball back for Maleek Batten to smashed home to level the scores.

Half-Time: Hucknall Sports 1 Long Eaton United 1

Hucknall made a couple of changes for the second half and introduced Tom Eastwood and Danny Darlow into the game. Ryan Towle slotted back into his usual centre midfield role after deputising at centre-half for the previous weeks and he showed great vision in picking out Hallam in the first 5mins for him to finish coolly and put Sports into the lead. With a strong wind at their backs you would have been forgiven for thinking that Sports might have elected to play ‘long-ball’ – but you would be wrong! This is a ‘footballing’ team where every player looks comfortable on the ball and they looked to play from the back, through the midfield and then pick out the strikers. Never more was this the case than the work done by wing-backs Green and Smith who regularly drove their team forward from the edge of their own penalty area up to the oppositions. Hallam grabbed a second with an exquisite finish and now Sports where rampant. Chances fell to Eastwood, Batten and Darlow to extend the lead but the final goal was grabbed by one of the hardest working boys you will see, Mitch Davies. It was rich reward for another tireless effort by him where he covered every blade of grass and broke down play time and again. Skipper James Stenson was introduced for the final 10mins to help maintain the midfield dominance and he showed great form to create space for a couple of shots that only  just missed the target. The final shot of the game was from Sports when up stepped Green to try his luck with a 30 yard free-kick that just drifted over the far angle.

Final Score: Hucknall Sports 4 Long Eaton Utd 1

Man of the Match today was James Hallam who was at his unplayable best once again. The mark of a good striker is that when you’re having a lean spell you don’t hide and he certainly didn’t hide in this game. He absolutely terrorised the Long Eaton defence and even the opposition supporters gave him a round of applause when he left the team with 5mins to play – brilliant James, well done.

James Hallam MOM

There is no more pleasing site for the coaches than to see boys fulfilling their potential and today was that day. All 15 boys played their part in a tremendous victory that will send shockwaves through the division. The next match can’t come soon enough but we can all enjoy our Christmas after a fabulous last 4 games that have seen the team pick up 10 points.

Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for the early present boys