5th Oct 2019 Mens 2nd v Sheffield Hallam�4(Away) 3 - 4 loss
It was a game of two halves, two rusty and disjointed ones at that!
Rhydding where quick out of the blocks in the first half and looked promising for all off approximately 5 minutes Jack Sturgeon intercepting a Hallam ball and cutting through the midfield, however the subsequent break into the D was snuffed out by the Hallam defence. From there on Rhydding struggled to interconnect play between all parts of the pitch and Hallam took advantage. Firing a succession of crash balls through to the centre forwards two of which where keen to drive at pace towards the D (The 3rd is a story for later). Rhydding were lacking Mark Horsman who had a cracking centre back performance the previous week and this showed in the defence. Rhydding gave the quick Hallam attackers too much respect backing off and allowing them time on the ball to dribble into the D. An unusually quiet defence led to indecisiveness amongst the back line allowing them the penetrate the D. The first goal came from wide angled shot from the left, which was saved by Benedikz. The subsequent pin ball rebound shot across the open goal mouth. Ricocheting off the covering Powell's shin conveniently into the path of the on running attacker for a soft push in at the back post. Heads dropped and the wheels fell off the Rhydding wagon, the midfield became disjointed and poor link up play continued to result in turn over balls. Hallam gained the opportunity to drive into the D on two more occasions again Benedikz saving the shot for re rebounds to fall kindly to the back post for two more soft push ins. It seemed to be the way the luck was going for Rhydding. 3-0 and only approximately 25 minutes in.
Misfiring Rhydding had few chances on goal in the first half. Opportunity arose to pull a goal back with a wide ball from midfield picking out Tiffany on the right driving round the base line, the pass was slightly miss timed falling behind the on running Powell. Received on the stretch it was shovelled underarm towards the near post. Beating the wrong footed keeper but cleared off the line by a Hallam defender, the deflection falling back to Powell for a reverse shot which was tipped round the post by the keeper.
Half time passed and Rhydding came out a different team interconnecting passes and 1-2's started to materialise. Sturgeon who has stepped into the void left by Ollie Burton, and Bradders started cutting through the midfield turning and rolling Hallam players like they where on ice. However the final ball still wasn't quite getting the strikers through on goal. Fantastic who normally plays like his name received a pop through ball which on normal day would have rippled the netting resulted in a windmill and turn over, It seemed Rhyddings luck was well out. Rhydding were battling hard and frustration was starting to mount, 50/50 balls and interceptions that Rhydding kept winning in the midfield were getting penalised and it was affecting momentum. Powell marking the rather rotund forward anticipated a through ball from the centre back beating his man for pace and agility broke free, whipped round his left shoulder getting in front to intercept the ball only to be run down by the attacker. Hallam Turn over... seriously?
Rhydding quickly linked some great one two passing to set up Dunn for a back post deflection, 3-1 back in the game. Hallam sat back and their attacking presence diminished. Rhydding stepped up a notch the Terry and Ibison partnership settled intercepting and tackling the previous rampant Hallam attack. Another counter attack saw Rhydding break wide round the back for another shot at the back post, the keeper was beaten but a Hallam foot saved the shot.. FLICK... back in the game?.... Nope the 2nd flick in two weeks squandered, Fantastic aimed to rifle into the top left, misconnected and the keeper guessed the side and palmed it wide.
Rhydding kept pushing, Foster whippeted round in the midfield picking the pocket of his counter part on numerous occasions. However a miss timed tackle saw him nip under the left shoulder to intercept saw the on rushing attacker take a hefty shoulder to the chest. No card ensued but they soon would. Hallam had a quick break down their left Maddaford seeing the counter attack threat stepped across to break it down committing a lumberjack lunge. He looked up to see the Umpire fumbling in his pocket he assumed the worst and quickly retreated to the bench. The umpire gave up finding his cards congratulated him, and allowed play to commence. Hallam where niggling in the centre of the park and soon saw themselves down to 10 men instead.
Another quick attack from Rhydding and it was 3-2 Another interlink of play seeing Tiff deflect in. The game was getting tense but Rhydding were starting to dominate. Hallam circulated well round the back bet were mostly contained. A drive down the left saw a clean tackle by Terry blown as a foot, the shorty was cleared but the follow up play saw Hallam eventually re-circulate round the back eventually slipping it down their right, the attacker beating his man drove the base line, the Rhydding defence caught in two minds stepped to intercept but the ball was squeezed over the defenders stick and down the base line. Beating Benedikz for another tap in at the back post. 4-2 Rhydding kept pushing and had numerous shots, Bradders and Sturgeon linking with Dunn, Tiff and Fantastic to carve open the defence; a number of attacks round the base line drew the keeper off his line allowing cross goal passes that on a normal week would have been buried first time into the goal, however nerves and a touch too many allowed the quick footed keeper to recover.
The closings 15 minutes were drawing to an end a series of passes down the left into Fantastic delivering a weighted first time deflection into Tiff who slotted a first time pass back across the D for George Madaford to deflect home 4-3. The pressure ensued and a blatant foot at least a foot into the D (clearly visible from space) should have seen a short corner awarded and a chance to draw level, but was given just out side. Rhydding's luck was finally out and the game ended a disappointing 4-3 with Powell grumbling in the sin bin for (in his eyes clean) tackle in the last 2 minutes.
If only we started the game like we finished!
MOM Jack Sturgeon