First away match in the land of Giants

A hot morning after the first week back to school, some of the boys arrived looking a little shell shocked after being thrown into a new world.

Hedge End were enormous with a back line resembling year 10s rather than 8s.
With considerable uncertainty early on in the defence against a pacey winger the Reds found themselves 2 down after ten minutes and the signs were not looking good. After a few minor tweaks in positions and to the boys credit, they did not let their heads go down and started to grow in confidence. By the time we got to half time no more goals had been scored and for anybody turning up late it would have been difficult to know who was winning the game.

Fresh legs from Silas, Alfie and Gabriel at the start of the second half saw the boys getting further forwards and putting pressure on the home side and they were unlucky not to sneak a goal.
The half remained even and the boys were unfortunate to concede a couple more goals. The pleasing element today, compared to previous matches, was the boys battling throughout the game and not allowing their heads to drop despite a lot of the boys being shattered by the end.

A big shout out to the defence today who now play with greater assurance and confidence. Jake and Louis S read the game really well and appeared to always be in the right place to clear the ball or get it back to Ashley in goal. Alasdair had a torrid time in the first half against the fast and tall winger who looked like he was going to run amok but he didn't due to Alasdair's tenacious defending and by the second half the winger hardly got a kick.
Harrison and Al are now forming a healthy partnership on the left side as did Josh and Gabriel on the right - these are encouraging signs for the future.
Well done to Harrison who was voted Man of the Match by our supporters with another dogged performance - he was surprised with the award after thinking this wasn't one of his better matches - again this bodes well for the future.

With two league games under the boys belts the signs are looking very positive - the attacking play will now be the focus of the next few weeks training sessions and we believe this attention will see the percentage of play moving more to the opposition's half with more shots and greater conversion of shots into goals.

There is a fantastic appetite to improve among the boys and if we keep believing we will continue to improve and the results will come.