Match Report: Men’s 3rd XI 18 Nov

Yateley 3-2 Newbury & Thatcham

Before we begin, thanks to Foley and Lotty for umpiring…..

YM3s welcomed Newbury & Thatcham to the red fortress. Despite Yateley being top of the table we knew that today’s opposition, having beaten a previous top of the table team, would cause us problems. Well, we collectively ignored all the pre match warnings and found ourselves 2 nil down after 20 mins. This can easily happen when you forget how to play as a team, forget to hold positions and fail to dictate the pace. Clutching for a positive note, with 2/3 of the game remaining we still had a chance to recover ground and go for the win.

And so, with the YM3 rattled but awake to the challenge we began the fight back. Primarily remembering to defend narrow and attack wide, we started to assert some control leading to a nicely worked goal converted by Stu Brimble. If this wasn’t good enough, with Newbury still reeling, up stepped Ollie Webster to bring the game back level within 1 min of the first goal. 2-2 first half and all to play for.

With half time words of wisdom from Captain Willie and the imperious Danno we entered the second half knowing that this was our game to win. Despite falling back occasionally into old habits, spirits were up and the fight was on. After scrambles to control the ball in every position on the pitch, although notable calm play from Fin Jarvis and Ollie YP, we found ourselves in the opponent’s D with 6 mins to play. There can only be one person that you would want to have the ball by the penalty spot, up stepped Kev Manning who bullied the ball over the line. 3-2 ahead and well rehearsed game management saw the YM3s play out the last 5 mins to secure the win. 3 more points and topping the table by 5 at the end of the day!!

MoM to Ollie Webster. DoD to Darren Skinner for a seismic event inducing tackle.