Report

Today's friendly started with Royals putting the pressure on us. A corner from them came close but not in. Giordi then got the ball up to Dylan, who came close to their goal, with Sam H. and Khalid waiting. Up to the Royals end again and the ball was passed to Dylan, who timed his shot to perfection and shot it into the corner of the net. EMH 1 - Royals 0. Royals came back at us but got blocked by Adam as they approached our area. Royals then took a corner and a shot, with the ball passing inches above our goal. Royals kept on at our goal and got past our defence and took a high shot that went in. EMH 1 - Royals 1. We made it back to the Royals goal area but were caught offside twice. We then saw a good long shot from Taylor but unfortunately we were caught offside again. With the game back in our half, Miles passed the ball to Khalid who had a good run up the side. Royals then got a free kick and made it right the way down the side, before Taylor managed to stop the attacker. EMH carried on trying, with Connor having a shot on the Royals goal, which was caught by their goalie. Another shot by Connor was close but was knocked out by their goalie for an EMH corner. Back to our end again and after a Royals corner they got the ball in our net, but this was not counted as they had 4 of their players offside at the time. Another attack by Royals and they took a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced back straight in front of our goal, but as they lined up to knock it in Bradley grabbed it. Just before half-time Royals broke through our defence, despite a valiant attempt by Luke G, and scored another goal. EMH 1 - Royals 2.

The second half started in a similar fashion with Royals up to our goal area, before Bradley grabbed the ball and gave a good strong drop-kick back out. Robert took the ball and made a run for the Royals goal, but was closed down. Dylan then got a good strong shot in, bringing us equal again. EMH 2 - Royals 2. Royals immediately went on the offensive with a long high shot that went in. EMH 2 - Royals 3. Another Royals attack was stopped by Adam and Sam H. close to our goal. Still up at our end and a well setup attack from Royals, saw them cross the ball and then tap it into our goal. EMH 2 - Royals 4. We saw some good work in the midfield from Amos before Dylan got another couple of shots in on the Royals goal. After Robert got tripped up close to the goal area, we got a penalty, with a cracking shot from Giordi that was nudged in by Sam H. EMH 3 - Royals 4. We kept the pressure on, with another strong shot from Giordi which was almost in, followed by a header that also came close. Robert then had a shot on their goal shortly followed by a rapidly taken shot from Miles, that went in over the top of their goalie. EMH 4 - Royals 4. Royals then came back at us, before Luke G. got the ball back out to the midfield. Then Royals took a corner and scored their fifth goal. EMH 4 - Royals 5. Back to the Royals end and after their keeper dropped a catch Giordi made a good attempt to score. We then saw a brilliant shot from Sam H. - unfortunately followed immediately by a brilliant save from the Royals goalkeeper! In the final moments of the game Taylor made a cross in front of the Royals goal and Dylan tried to head it in, but it went just wide.

Well done to all the lads. Thanks to all the supporters. Thankyou to Andy, Lee and John for the training, refereeing and running the line. Good to see Chris at the game and getting better - only a few weeks left 'til you can play again. See you all at training Wednesday.

P.S. - please see the news item about the Wembley Stadium day out. We need the money by this Wednesday 29th. Thanks…..