Woodbridge Town FC 1-5 Buckhurst Hill FC, U 13 EJA league fixture
Brilliant spring day for a loooonnnngggg journey up the A12 to the warm welcome at Woodbridge. Most certainly one of the friendliest sets of fans and management and probably the best facilities that we have seen this season.
Not all made the journey though..the gaffer was without his minder and sidekick Deano Johnson. Deano having foregone the match to watch Harry J in acton. Clearly a tough one to give up on this match….the cynical might say the drive was a factor in Deano’s scheduling……and plenty of banter was had in that direction. Others however would point to the ever present coach throughout the season….in any case..the sideline and warm up was a touch quieter.
And that quietness seemed to leak into the Hill play…despite constant encouragement and the occasional grilling from the gaffer the boys could not really get out of 2nd gear. Though they ran out comfortable winners in the end, they will need to up the urgency in the big games coming.
Special mention and huge best wishes to our stalwart central midfield enforcer, Zac Foster, who left the field midway through the first half with a suspected dislocated thumb…..which later on turned out to be a broken thumb….It’s a real blow for the all round sportsman….who will no doubt miss a few games, plus some swimming and possibly the start of the cricket season……get well soon Zac…..thumbs up for a speedy recovery!!
Back to the match….Hill won 5-1 ….four goals in the first half, including a Redhead hat trick and one in the second half beat a very game and big hearted Woodbridge side who did themselves credit and had some strong individual performances.
The opening goal was scored in the first minute when a through ball flicked on in midfield was latched onto by EMERSON who outpaced his marker and slotted a finely struck left foot shot into the far corner.
On 4 minutes Hill were 2 up when the ball fell to REDHEAD in the box, his back to goal he spun neatly and slipped in past the keeper.
The third goal came after 18 mins when the ball was played through the middle by G. Johnson….REDHEAD turned on the gas, got clear of the defence and slotted home.
REDHEAD's hat trick was completed a minute later when a communication break down in the defence gave him a simple tap in from 8 yards. The crowd’s heart stopped though as the ball bobbled up and only just found the corner of the net off his ankle….there would have been no dinner for that boy had it not gone in and possibly a long walk home!!
2 minutes later though and Hill’s defence gifted Woodbridge with their goal to make it 4-1 at half time.
The second half was an even quieter affair…Hill dominating possession but could not make a final pass to create an opening. It seemed as though all the Hill players wanted to score and let their normal fluid passing be taken over with speculative shots, runs and blind forward passes….that will have to be eradicated in time for the final in 2 weeks time. In fact so disjointed was their play at times, not helped by the bobbly pitch and not so great ball to be fair, that the crowd were finding new footballing adjectives to describe the game. The clear winner from Marc “Tennyson" King with his “the players are all marooned” quote.
The one bright moment of the second half was created and finished by the tireless BROOKES who got free of his pacey right back and fired a shot across the keeper which took a bad bounce in front of his dive and found the bottom corner. Final score 1-5.