Mattishall Res 4 Easton 6

With the weather finally behaving itself we made the shortest away trip of the season to take on neighbours Mattishall Res. The hosts had been on the end of a 10-1 mauling at The College earlier in the season but practically a whole new side greeting us we were wary of the threat the possessed.

With Raffa, Wheeler, Aggy and Matty all unavailable for various reasons we welcomed Ben and Rob back to the squad as well as a first appearance of the season for Capps and new signing Joel. A very soft pitch greeted us but it had clearly been worked on after the recent weather and the folks at Mattishall had done a great job.

Mattishall got us underway up the slight slope and both sides had an even first ten minutes or so as each team looked for a foothold in the game. The opening exchanges were very scrappy with no clear cut chances appearing but a couple of early corners forced the home side to clear their lines with the ball starting to come back at them quickly. With 15 minutes on the clock a corner was put back in the danger area by Lewi and Matty H lifted the ball back over his own head, and the heads of the Mattishall defenders and keeper and saw the ball drop in under the bar for 0-1 and his first goal for the club in his second spell.

Five minutes later we doubled our lead. A lovely ball from Capps found George through on goal and he was brought down crudely by the home keeper outside the box after touching the ball round him. The keeper escaped with a talking to but the punishment was produced by Morgs as his free kick dipped over the wall and into the corner of the net.

We were in total control at this point but the second goal seemed to spark the hosts to life and they enjoyed their best spell of the game for the next 15 minutes or so. Firstly a loose ball was seized upon just outside the area and Kieron had to save well to keep the score at 2-0 before Riches saw an effort glance the post for Mattishall.

The home side did however get a golden chance to half the deficit on the half hour mark when Al was adjudged to have pushed the striker in the box and despite Kieron going the right way the spot kick was a good one and it was 2-1 and game on. We did then have the ball in the goal again as Ian and Morgs linked up before the latter saw his cut back turned into the net by the home defender but the linesman had spotted an offside somewhere.

Mattishall pushed on until half time but couldn't get another goal to even things up before the break.

HT 1-2

Given their league position Mattishall had to come out early in search of a way back into the game but that meant that gaps started to appear early in the half. The home side were attempting to win first and second balls but after a loose pass found it's way to Rob on the right he played a neat 1-2 with Morgs and his pin point cross found George who in turn found the far corner with a sumptuous volley to make it 1-3 five minutes into the second half.

Milne in the Mattishall goal then had to be alert to save superbly from Lewi and Jahi before our 4th goal came in the hour mark. Capps, who earned the man of the match, beat his man twice before standing a perfect cross up to the back post for George to head in from less than a yard to make it 1-4 and give the hosts a mountain to climb.

Mattishall were reeling at this point and on the hour mark Beanie was felled as he broke into the area and George stepped up to seal his hat trick with a cooly taken penalty for 1-5. Hayden then almost made it 6 when he broke into the box after beating 4 men but the keeper did enough to slow the effort down to allow a covering defender to hack clear off the line.

Ben was introduced from the bench and had a goal to show for his efforts with 20 minutes to play. He broke away from the home back line and after rounding the keeper the number 1 hauled him to the ground for another penalty and earned himself a yellow card for his troubles. Morgs handed the ball off to Ben who emphatically slammed the ball high into the corner of the net to make it 1-6.

What followed in the last ten minutes can only be described as bizarre. Firstly a strike from fully 30 yards took a huge deflection and found the corner or Kieron's net for 2-6 before a moment of magic from McFarlane saw him collect the ball with his right foot before a stunning strike from 15 yards to make it 3-6. Mattishall all of a sudden had their tails up before another effort from distance struck a home player in the head and again flew into the corner for 4-6!

Thankfully we then managed to get our foot on the ball again and see the game out high up the pitch.

FT 4-6
A win is a win and in the most part it was emphatic but the last ten minutes shows just how unforgiving this league can be at times. We now move onto Caister Reserves next week as we look to keep title favourites Fakenham Reserves at arms length.