Report

Galleywood welcomed Top of the Table Kelvedon Hatch to Slades Lane for their final game of the 2011/12 season on an evening more like the middle of Winter rather than Springtime, heavy showers throughout the day had made the playing surface very greasy and a strong wind was blowing down the slope.  Due to injury and unavailability there were several changes to the Galleywood side that had played the previous Saturday, Sid was back in goal, Reevo went into the centre of the back four with Sam, Luke N and Luke A., in the midfield was Jack, Matt B, Matt S and Tom L , with Ed and Tom W up front, on the bench was Aaron, Harry and Alex, Ed and Matt B were making their full First Team debut.

Hatch started the game playing down the slope and with both sides trying to find an opening it was 18 mins until they won the first corner of the match, this was comfortably cleared by the Galleywood defense. Hatch piled on the pressure and on 20 mins Sid was in action for the first time blocking a strong shot which lead to a series of corners which Galleywood eventually cleared to safety. The young Galleywood side were holding their own in the game and were not being intimidated by their more experienced opposition and so as half time arrived it was a side growing in confidence that went to the changing rooms.

Half Time   Galleywood   0-0   Kelvedon Hatch

Galleywood restarted the game with the elements in their favour and for the first 10 mins it was a very even affair, on 60 mins Jack had a good solo run but his shot was wide of the Hatch goal. Two mins later and Jack charged down a kick which fell nicely to Ed who ran directly at the Hatch goal but unfortunately his shot was straight at the keeper. Hatch’s response was swift and they immediately took the game to Galleywood winning a corner and from the subsequent cross a goal mouth scramble was saved courtesy of Sid’s foot for a further corner, which was then cleared. On 74 mins Sam was replaced by Aaron. One min later and a well taken free kick by Matt B found Tom L who volleyed the ball into the Hatch goal 1-0. Again Hatch came back and again it was Sid to the rescue saving well and then releasing the ball down the field where Tom W collected the ball, found himself one on one with the hatch keeper and calmly side footed the ball into the goal for a 2-0 lead and sending the ‘Galleywood faithful’ wild. On 82 mins Hatch were awarded a penalty for hand ball and the Hatch player struck the ball into the Galleywood goal 2-1. Galleywood then made their second substitution Luke A replaced by Harry. The remainder of the game, including an additional 7 mins of extra time, saw Hatch all out for the equaliser but Galleywood held on for a throughly deserved victory.

Full Time   Galleywood   2-1   Kelvedon Hatch.

Summary; A wonderful Team performance, it was great to see all the players working hard for each other. Results have still got to go our way for Premier survival but this performance and the two games against Frenford Senior have proved that we are good enough to compete in the Premier Division.