Report

St Annes v Layton Blues
Firstly we would like to take this oportunity to welcome Harry Dale to the team. He will give us extra options upfront and be a valuable member of the squad.
The match at Common Edge was always going to be difficult against a strong St Annes team. Conditions also meant the possibilities of quality flowing football were going to be limited. There was a bitterly cold wind blowing straight down a firm bobbly pitch. On the bright side we introduced a new younger, fitter linesman for a guest appearance ;-).
Against the wind in the first half we were always going to struggle and inthe first 5 minutes we were pushed back and found it hard to clear our lines. Liam pulled off a good save from a long range shot that was dipping under the bar. A couple of minutes later he had no chance with a fine shot from the right wing that sailed in at the far post. 0-1.
This early set back spurred us on and we soon equalised through a fine Jack Webster shot after good approach play down the left. 1-1. At this stage we played some of our best football. We realised that the best way to play in these conditions was to keep the ball on the ground. Alan, Brent and Jack Wrigley linked up well. At the back we had to be strong also with extra attention having to be paid to keeping wind assisted shots down to a minimum. Joshua, Luke T and Andy had to be at their best and they didn't let us down.
Harry came on for his debut and played a couple of one twos with Jenson who was unlucky not to get his shot away. Harry then put in a great cross for Jaydan to give us the lead 2-1. During this spell Jaydan had a purple patch, he hit the bar and had a 'goal' not given because the officials didn't see it was about 2 feet over the line. He was not to be denied though and scored his scond with a fine shot after a quick break through the middle. 3-1. H-T. It was a fine battling performnace against the wind and George and Kieran bossed the midfield not only winning the ball but using it well on many occasions.
During the break we stressed the need to keep the ball down and play the simple pass in the second half with the wind at our backs. We made a couple more changes at the break and Connor slotted in a centre half and was up o his normal high standard. We found it more difficult in the second half to keep the ball as many of our passes were over hit and the firm pitch didn't help either. This is no criticism of the lads because we continued to try and play football but it was nearly impossible in the conditions. We did however manage to score agian with Jaydan completing his hat-trick with another fine left footer. 4-1.
We had a few more long range shots through Nathan, George and Harry but failed to hit the target. Credit to St Annes who continued to push forward and got their reward when a shot went in off the underside of the bar (superbly spotted by the eagle eyed linesman!!).4-2. StAnnes continued to push and were soon awarded a penalty which they converted despite a fine effort from Liam. 4-3. We sured up the team for the last few minutes and held on for victory. FT 4-3.

Firstly well done must to both teams for attempting to play football in awful conditions. It is a credit to them that 5 out of the 7 goals were scored against the wind which show neither team were there to just hump the ball forward.
We battled really hard and thoroughly deserved the points despite a late come back by St Annes. We can't really take as much from this match as recent games because the wind had such an influence on it. What can be said though is that when the chance came we did attempt to keep the ball on the ground and pass the ball, so well done everybody for that.
MotM awards went to Jack Wrigley (parents) and Connor (managers). Everyone deserves credit today though for their efforts and it shows that we can win matches even when we can't play the game how we normally like to. Efffort is as important as ability in games like this.
Thanks to all parents and supporters who braved the conditions to cheer us on. Special thanks to all the mums who spent Mothers Day at windswept Common Edge, I just hope the your lads looked after you when you got home.

PS The new younger fitter lineman is now realising he is not so young and fit and will (hopefully) be returning the flag to its rightful owner.