New year - 3s move 3rd

Back at the fortress that is Cantley Castle for the 1st 3s game of the New Year, looking to start the year with a colossal win over 2nd place Oxford.

The 1st half commenced with battles up and down the field. Miss hits, shoddy aerials and fears of the Oxford counter attack pretty much sums up most of the 1st half. Both teams having plenty of scoring opportunities from both open play and short corners, but neither being clinical. Small chance of a penalty stroke with the ball hitting a foot in front of goal but the ball fell to South Berks who had a shot or two saved.
Also wishing Ryan a speedy recovery after losing a fight to gravity!

After an uneventful but well fought 1st half we move onto the 2nd…

South Berks had smelt blood, Oxford were dripping with fear as they could sense a goal coming. Everyone's hard work off the ball created plenty of openings allowing for a bounty of attacking opportunities. Short corner after short corner in South Berks favour but no goals until the 5th (i think). A plan was conjured… ball to the top for a right side 1-2 between Kav and Grant. The lads executed it perfectly with a finish into the bottom left. 1-0 for South Berks.
There was an extra spark in the team, Brick Wall Bear and Lumberjack Chris winning every 50/50, another goal was on the horizon. It didn’t take long before a 2nd was finished by Will (on the back post - skipper was happy!!) after a well crafted piece of play, poetry in motion, 2-0.

Being 2 up can be dangerous, the door was still open for Oxford. After conceding the 2nd they stepped their game up. 10 minutes of constant pressure from Oxford resulting in many missed opportunities. South Berks were defending hard but sloppy in maintaining possession. After watching others attempt to dribble out the sea of Oxford players Kav took it upon himself to try. He got out of the 23 until an Oxford player got in between Kav and the ball, big mistake, the momentum of the 100kg "big boi" came crashing down upon the Oxford players leg. Some feared the worst, fortunately the Oxford player was able to "walk" off, but so did Kav after receiving a crisp green card.

South Berks held down the fortress whilst being down to 10. 2 minutes passed and Kav returned. Fear was visible in Baileys eyes as he wondered ‘what's he gonna do next’. Within a minute of being on, just outside the D, Kav decided to dive towards the ball (and the oppo player) like an Olympic swimmer to stop what would have been definite goal. Short corner conceded but cards stayed away, potentially talks of a yellow but we’ll never know. Oxford sent the short to the top, flicked in, dodgy deflection, goal, 2-1. Now you couldn’t blame anyone for conceding that cough*Kav*cough.

Quickly after another short corner conceded, defence set - good injection and stop, ball goes flying to left only to be met by a flying Thomas N, shut out the flick destined for the top corner keeping South Berks ahead into the last 10 minutes of the game. Oxford still in it fighting hard and South Berks needed a goal to ease the pressure.

Top notch game management and well strung passes resulted in a short corner for South Berks. A plan was agreed, Gladys to inject, Kav to stop, Alex to flick. The Keeper set up covering his right post, Alex was advised ‘make sure to stick it into your bottom right away from the keeper’. Whistle blows, crisp injection, good stop, a dribbler of a drag flick into the bottom left sliding past the keeper, 3-1.

After this the lads saw out the game till the final whistle, 3 points in the bag and a win against a top opposition.

Score: 3-1 - Kav, Will and Alex with goals
MOTM: Aaron for quality leads and class creation of goal scoring opportunities.
DOD: was "close" between a few, but Kav narrowly took it…