Report

In a well fought match, AC came out victorious but there will be harder matches later in the season.
AC started brightly with Jake, Jack and Louis putting the Kickers under pressure from the off. Jack was unlucky when a shot from outside the box crashed against the bar. Just less than 7 minutes had gone before Jake had opened the scoring with another trademark coolly-taken goal.

The Kickers were let back in the game when a badly bouncing ball found its way into the net a few moments later.

AC rallied and before the half time break they were 3-1 up with a brace from Louis - the header from Jake's cross the best goal of the game (even the ref commented!!)
To be fair to Kickers, they came out of the blocks in the 2nd half with the bit between their teeth. Their challenges were hard but fair and for a long period, they put AC on the back foot, only allowing the home team to occasionally hit back on the break.
 
This sustained pressure finally told when AC finally let in another goal with a well taken effort at Ollie's near post.

From this point onwards the game could have gone either way with Ollie the busier of the two keepers. He pulled off some fantastic saves tipping them on to the bar or around the post.

Half way through the 2nd half, AC finally started to dominate with the tackling of Ben, Alex and Matty putting the away team under pressure. Another good move had Jake on the edge of the box, who was able to steer the ball unerringly into the corner.
 
Biddulph still didn't lie down and hit the bar twice, with another cleared off the line from the impressive Will.

With a couple of minutes to go the coach who wasn't on scouting duties, brought Jack off for a standing ovation from the Pershall faithful. Really well played Jack.

AC held out for the 3 points with the dependable Connor and Daniel heading more than usual - especially pleasing given that they had bumped heads really badly the day before!!!

As for man of the match, there were a few nominations but the way that Ollie came into his own in the 2nd half showed real character with some really good saves.

AC now need to put the battling spirit they showed at the end of the game with the short-passing game they displayed in glimpses of the 1st half. With two games gone joint top of the league is still a good position to be - another Biddulph team to play next week.