Saturday 22nd September Finchampstead Rovers took on Bracknell Colts for their first game of the season and won!!!
More typical footballing weather greeted the Rovers and fans this Saturday with the welcome sight of brollies and coffee cups confirming that Autumn is definitely with us! The team was hoping to follow up their strong performance in a 1-1 friendly draw with Eversley the week before and once again we were treated to a feast of football.
As soon as the whistle was blown the Rovers produced a measured performance, showing great composure and no little flair in a devastating first 20 minutes salvo. In no time at all 5 pass moves brought opportunities for quality through balls and on this occasion the quality of our play was matched by some devastating finishing. Harrison, Ajay and Kam (twice) produced outstanding finishes to leave us 4-0 up with the fans not quite believing what they were seeing. Were we actually in Bracknell or The Nou Camp?
The chances kept coming with some superb link –up play from James, the two Lucas’s and a pass of the day from Alfie to name but a few. There were simply no weak links and the boys were playing with big smiles on their faces.
Again the question that the coaches put to the boys at half-time was could they continue to play at that tempo? To be fair to the Colts their pressing and work rate improved hugely after half-time and with Rovers suddenly showing more profligacy in front of goal, the match started to turn. The first shot on goal from Colts came mid-way through the second half followed by an excellent top-corner save from Luke. Could the boys keep the clean sheet our coaches were no doubt looking for? Unfortunately a quality delivery from a left wing corner managed to evade all of our defenders and Colts scored with their third shot on goal. Another quality left wing cross and a lack of marking provided the Colts with a second goal a minute before the final whistle. Final score 2-4 and the Rovers first win of the season! Well done boys….