Knights Take On The Rangers
Anglian Knights FC went into the game hoping to pick themselves up from a poor game against Old Catton a couple of weeks ago, and they came out all guns blazing against league leaders, Hellesdon Rangers.
It was never going to be an easy game, but Anglian did what they do best. Keeping the ball on the ground, with the wind whipping across the pitch, Anglian attacked well and dominated play.
The first goal came after about 15 minutes, but it went against the run of play as Hellesdon attacked down the right wing, going round 2 defenders before slotting the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net. 1-0 Hellesdon.
This wasn’t going how Anglian had hoped, and it was only going to get worse before it got better as Hellesdon scored a fluke goal thanks to the wind. Hellesdon attacked well down the right and a cross dipped ferociously towards the goal, the young Anglian goalkeeper went to parry the ball over the bar, but as he did the wind blew the ball so it didn’t go out of play. Instead the ball dropped at the back post in the bottom corner of the net. 2-0
Despite the goal deficit, Anglian picked themselves up and continued to attack well. They managed to pull a goal back 15 minutes before half time after substitute Craig Kiddell whipped the ball into the box from a free kick, which was carried by the wind over the defence and to the feet of Matt Jillings who made no mistake tapping the ball into the net. 2-1
Half-time soon came around and the game was getting quite heated as indecisive refereeing was causing a stir amongst both sets of players and managers.
The second half kicked off with Hellesdon attacking with the wind and they used it to their advantage straight after the whistle as they pushed the ball to the right and the winger crossed the ball, but sliced it, which in a bizarre fashion swerved into the top left corner of the net leaving the keeper stranded! 3-1
The Knights are used to being in this position and luck seems a bit against them at the minute as that is the second time that’s happened in 2 weeks. They didn’t let this stop them though as they carried on playing their tidy football, but some meaty challenges were starting to crop up and tempers were heating up as frustration and passion kicked in.
Hellesdon carried on playing some route one football, but Anglian dealt with it brilliantly, and playing short passes pushed up the field. In about the 60th minute Anglian got their second break as good build play around the penalty area, and a blocked shot fell to Liam Smith on the edge of the area, who made no mistake with his half volley as he smashed it into the bottom left corner of the net. 3-2
Hellesdon were on the back foot, clearing their lines well, but Anglian had fire in their bellies and refused to be defeated again as they went in hard to win the ball and vice versa.
This however, caused some issues for the referee as tiredness set in, some tackles were becoming late, but he failed to deal with them properly causing upset for both teams.
The final score was 3-2 to Hellesdon, but it could’ve been a different story altogether if their wasn’t a 13th player helping out along the way.
Managers comments;
Unfortunately Phil wasn’t present Saturday, but the feedback I have had is nothing but positive.
Hellesdon were shocked we haven’t won yet. They are now nervous about our next encounter with them.
Liam Smith and Matt Jillings were my men of the match, not just because they scored, but they battled hard and essentially kept us in the game.
As a whole I thought the team performed out of their skins and the win is just around the corner, IF we continue to play like this every week!
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