A pleasant October Saturday morning saw the 3rd team travel across to Ilkley for their first game in 2 weeks (the game v York not having taken place as a result of a lack of opposition). With the Shannon trio all away, the 3rds were struggling to get a team together and only managed to have the bare minimum of 11 players for the first half. The two sides had a similar structure – a mixture of the old and bold and the young and talented, so it was always going to be a good game. For the first 5 minutes, both sides were a little cautious, with no real opportunities presented or taken by either team. After a while however, Thirsk grew in strength and managed some well pressed attacks on the Rhydding goal, but without any reward. Rhydding managed a couple of attacks and even gained a penalty corner from one attack on the Thirsk goal, but they were unable to gain anything from it and Thirsk countered very strongly and went straight onto the attack. Some skillful work from the midfield, with Jonny and Sam linking well together and with Tom, and some good stick skills from Jonathan, Sean and George saw Connor with the opportunity to unleash a strong shot on goal, but the keeper was able to block it and the follow-on attempt. It stayed that way, with Thirsk seeming to be the more attacking of the two teams, for the first 25 minutes, and then Thirsk put together a series of good passing moves and interplay and the ball was brought into the right hand side of the D and played across to Connor who successfully converted it. 0-1 to Thirsk, and a good reward for their persistent efforts. It remained evenly balanced for the next few minutes, but against the run of play, Rhydding found themselves with numbers in the D and after being unable to clear the ball it was fired into the goal from within a mêlée of players and past Mason’s outstretched leg. So, the half ended at 1-1.
For the second half we gained an extra player as Jon arrived, and Thirsk tried to play more of the same and seek the extra goals. Perhaps an element of tiredness was creeping in, or the fact that Rhydding had decided to mark Connor much more closely, but Thirsk lost ground in the second half. Rhydding had more opportunities in the middle of the pitch and created more attacks than in the first half. They gained a number of penalty corners, but only one required Mason to make a save. Other attacks were broken down by the defence, with Dom and Mike showing strong defensive awareness and a determination to keep Rhydding out. Only one attack came close to threatening the goal, but again it was dealt with calmly with good midfield support from Sam and Jonny. Despite yet more attempts on the Rhydding goal, and some sterling work by the forwards, Thirsk were just not able to find the killer blow. With 5 minutes remaining, the old and very bold Chris (a rush of blood to the head having pulled him far forward from his normal right back position) made a surging run towards the Rhydding D but, in a very unlucky accident, took the full force of the ball to the bridge of his nose. Much rushing of blood ensued. That was the last act of the game, and it ended in an honourable draw; whilst Thirsk might feel a little disappointed at that, the game was played in the best sportsman like manner by both teams and so a draw was probably the correct result.
Team: Mason (C), Mike, Dom, Chris, Sam, Jonny, Tom, Jon, Connor (1 goal), George, Sean, Jonathan