There’s always a degree of apprehension in approaching a 10am away fixture to Reading given the depth of resources the club offers and the Terriers had already lost Rik Temmink to illness (get well soon) and Matt Humphrey to his own stag do (poor excuse) when they turned up bleary eyed for the early pushback, well supported as ever by the parents and injured teammates.

Reading’s mixture of familiar and less familiar faces started strongly moving the ball well attacking in numbers. After 3 minutes the Terriers found themselves 1-0 down. A difficult start but Reading weren’t having it the own way though and had to defend a couple of short corners early on. It was from another short corner after 10 minutes that the Terriers got their equaliser as Chris Davidson scored with his trademark diving strike. 1-1 is how it finished and rather than describe the all the near misses, fluffed chances and back against the wall defending I will return to my theme of Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Firstly Blood. Early on in the match Ash Stratton took a nasty blow on the finger which split. It was the end of his game. A sad end to what has been a terrific season from our main man in midfield. Hope it heals well. Then came a further blow when our principle goal threat Chris Davidson limped of with a muscle injury that spelled the end of his game too. With two of our best players sidelined a quarter of the way through the game it looked like the rest of the match would be a an uphill struggle.

Secondly the Sweat. The boys responded magnificently in the face of adversity. In defence, in attack and in transition every player rose to the challenge. Every one of them can be proud. There were spells in the second half when we were on top, despite depleted resources but it was a nervy end to the match repeatedly defending short corners to the end.

Finally the Tears. So that’s it. As Neil said in the post match huddle that’s the last time we will play together as a collective. Some of the boys will move up, in stature as well as through the club. Others will be back again for more in September. And whatever their degree of individual skill may be this group has been one that have really taken on board the way we play. Thanks to them and to the parents. The end of another season but how good it feels to go out on a high.