U14s lose by 1 goal in a thriller

After observing a minute's silence to pay their respects, the boys then got down to the business of providing high quality entertainment for the next 90 minutes.

A win at face off by George (so often our achilles heal but not today) led to Mellor breaking and having the first shot on target which their keeper saved. From Mersey's first attack we saw where their strength lay which was in a number of pacey players (especially 45) who were able to cover the length of the pitch and soon we were 1 down. After another face win, we saw a neat Sam combo with Eddie who scored to draw us level. More face off success saw us mount more pressure but this week the opponents were a notch up as regards checking and they turned us over leading to another fast break and we were 2-1 down. That soon became 4-1 down as they started to win face and it was becoming apparent that we weren't effectively dealing with their danger players.

The 2nd qtr started well with a Sam goal and then a sustained period of Mellor posession but once again we gave them an opportunity to check by too much running rather than passing and we soon found ourselves 6-2 down. It looked like the game was slipping away unless we started to learn from our mistakes. A nice Jamie finish from a Sam feed was unfortunately cancelled out by another Mersey goal as we ended the half 7-3 down.

Credit to the coaches since the players regrouped after the break and we played outstanding lacrosse in the 3rd period. Quick passing, great movement, tenacity to win the ball back led to us taking the quarter 3-0 with Jamie, Eddie and Sam all hitting the target. Defensively Joey, Alex and Joe looked solid with Will and Oli providing much energy in midfield.

Starting the final qtr 7-6 down there was real belief that we could pull it back. The qtr started badly though as we gifted away posession as Mersey put our defence under pressure as we looked to clear the ball upfield with too many "hospital" passes, leading to too many turnovers near our goal. At 9-6 down the game was slipping away. The boys however showed their true Mellor spirit in not accepting defeat and a 3rd for Jamie on the day was quickly followed by one for Tom after beating numerous players to slot home. The comeback was then well and truly on when Sam scored his third of the day, with his weaker hand, to leave the game tied at 9-9 with 5 left on the clock.

A face win for us was then chalked out and Mersey given posession for a technical infringement which proved to be a turning point. Their player ran straight to goal and managed to knock off a couple of defensive challenges to score. The last few minutes were frantic with both teams now going toe to toe and a few fouls by both teams. Mersey looked to run the clock down but a loose pass saw Mellor break and a foul on Jamie with 15 secs left gave us 1 last chance. A couple of passes and with less than 5 secs remaining Tom had the ball some distance from goal, the shot was on target but at the right height for the keeper who saved it as the final whistle went.

A great game to watch, lots of positives to take against a much older squad than ours - face off from George and Joe was very good today, some wonderful attacking lacrosse played and defensively once we had worked them out we coped very well with their danger players. As such it's probably fair to say we both won one half each today - Mersey 7-3 (1st) and us 6-3 (2nd)!

Goals: Sam (3), Jamie (3), Eddie (2), Tom (1)

MOM: A difficult one today - Sam and Jamie in attack played very well but Joe had an exceptional game both at face and breaking up their attack, so on the day I think he edged it. On this display the team could turn the tables on the best teams later on in the season if we can iron out a few areas which the coaches noted down. Well played boys!

Match Reporter: Austin Brady