Sunday 8th December Finchampstead Hurricanes hosted Staines on Finchampstead FC Main Pitch for the first game in the second half of the season.
They played Staines in the season’s opener, drawing 2-2 in the end when they gave away a penalty in the last 5 minutes. It was a blowy day when they visited Staines and Finch was just the same with a strong cross-field breeze. A Staines win today would have put them in 2nd place in the league.
Report by Jason Gan
We were missing Harrington due to illness, Adam serving out
the 2nd of his 3 match ban and James & Nathan due to injury. The
lads are up for it as we started the warm up, although I did need to
read a bit of the riot act in the warm up to get more focus and less
mucking about!!
From the whistle, it was going to be
a tough game with Staines playing their effective long ball and
attacking at pace in numbers. Jake was in action early on, making a
number of saves. Finch were not putting enough pressure on the ball
further up the pitch and not making the same attacking runs when we had
the chances. But it was Jacob who got the first goal against run of
play, Lewis B picking out Ben M who slotted Jacob through to lob the
keeper. 1-0
Staines responded straight away, a
handball on the edge of the Hurricanes penalty box gave them a chance to
bundle in a curling cross in at the back post. 1-1
Staines
hit the underside of the cross bar from a close range shot, but Finch
got a bit a luck as the ball bounced down for Jake to parry away. As the
first half progressed, Finch were starting to get more control of the
game and put Staines under more pressure with crosses and cut-back
passes in the penalty box.
At half time we talked
through making more positive attacking runs into the space behind their
defenders, tighter marking and quicker pressing, not getting tackled
with the ball and releasing the ball quicker.
Finch
played with a steely determination in the second half and took the game
to Staines. They were sharper and quicker to the ball, tighter on their
marks and making the attacking runs in numbers. Our recent training
drills were much more apparent as well. A lot more pass and move
action!! And the rewards for the added pressure on Staines came as Lewis
B had the awareness to take the early shot with their keeper out of
position after he had had to sweep up a Finch through ball. 2-1
But
Staines were still dangerous on the break and equalised from a long
clearance which put their left forward into the penalty box…some quick
footwork created the shooting opportunity and he didn’t miss. 2-2
Finch
were now applying more sustained attacks, keeping the ball live around
the Staines box. Jack was put through on a foot race with the
keeper….Jack’s pace beating the keeper with a delicate touch to take the
ball away from him but was then flipped into the air in the follow
through. Cam stepped up and slotted the penalty into the far corner, the
keepers finger tips not able to stop the ball. 3-2
And
then the icy driving rain turned up and we all got completely soaked in
seconds. But for Finch this was the turning point in the game!!
Dan
got crowded out in a goal mouth scramble from a Finch corner and shots
from Lewis C, Lewis B, Jack and Jacob couldn’t beat the keeper. Aaron
pinged a couple of free kicks into the back post but Finch couldn’t
quite get on the end of them. Cam got the final goal of the game with
some quick footwork of his own in a crowded box and he didn’t miss
either. 4-2
And as the clock ran down there was some
solid defending to keep Staines at bay from Dan, Alfie, Aaron and Ben
M. Finch were still pushing for the next goal rather than keeping
possession to manage the game out, but it was keeping the ball up the
field and forcing Staines to drop players back to deal with our
lads….attack can sometimes be the best form of defence. Staines doing
just enough to stop Finch adding to the scoreline.
Final Score Hurricanes 4-2 Staines
A big win for the lads today with a depleted squad,
great performances from the lads as a team showing resilience and
determination through the 90 minutes against a strong team. With the
league continuing to be very tight, this win has pushed the Hurricanes
up 2 places to 5th, just 3 points behind 3rd Claygate and 4th Staines.
