Southill vs Atlantic – A Fantastic Football Match!
Southill FC participated in yet another football match this year as Atlantic very kindly obliged. The emphasis of today’s match was to just simply enjoy the game in the sunshine and play some attractive football…
The game began with Southill dominating possession and playing some superb two-touch football. The children seemed really composed and ready to strut their stuff. After 7 minutes (and some very patient build-up play) an in-swinging corner wasn’t cleared by the Atlantic defense and Evan very quickly knocked the ball out from his feet and slotted through the defenders legs into the bottom corner giving Southill the lead which they thoroughly deserved. It wasn’t long before Southill scored yet again. A brilliant through ball from Mason found its way to Albert who confidently slotted the ball past the goalkeeper into the bottom left hand corner. We knew however that Atlantic were a good team and they started to find their rhythm. Nevertheless, Oliver, Corey, Kaleb and Daniel remained composed and defended the goal confidently and calmly. In fact, Daniel set up our third goal. A ball over the top of the midfield allowed Albert to run onto it, control it confidently and finished into the opposite corner making it 3-0. Moments before half time, Atlantic scored and it was a stunning goal. The midfielder drilled the ball from outside the box and it founds its way into the top left corner making the half time score Southill 3 – 1 Atlantic.
After a quick drink and some team tactics, the children took to the field for the second half. Reed’s constant persistence down the wing and Samuel’s through balls between the lines allowed us to get up the pitch quickly. A tackle from Harry on the last defender saw the ball ricochet into the feet of hattrick hero Albert who drilled the ball hard and low to the keeper’s left. However, Atlantic didn’t give up. 15 minutes into the second half, Southill were unable to clear their lines and a scrappy goal gave Atlantic the confidence and determination to try and grab a draw. One minute from time, a great solo-effort from the striker caught us off-guard and a deflected shot off one of our defenders landed perfectly at the feet of another Atlantic player who was able to convert making the final score
Southill 4 – 4 Atlantic
I am sure all of the spectators will agree that is was a fantastic match played to a very high standard. The team have grown in confidence and ability tremendously since the beginning of the year and we were rather unfortunate to not come out the victors. Despite this, I could not be more proud of the team and the manner in which they conducted themselves before, during and after the match. My players of the match were Corey who made some excellent tackles making it difficult for Atlantic to score and Albert who took his chances with aplomb.
A huge thank you to everybody who came and cheered the team, thank you to Mr. Mason for getting the children warmed-up beforehand, thank you to Mr. Frampton for taking some cracking photos (as always) and finally thank you to the team who gave it their all today!
Mr. Prior
