Red Lion Horninglow Reserves vs Gresley Rovers
Red Lion Reserves 4 - 3 Gresley Rovers
Scorers: Hanslow 2, Morton
Squad: Stu Haywood, Andy Lyons, Jack Moylan, Danny Gee, Rich Foster (c), Sam Worth, Luke Taylor, Joe Tomlin, Chris Smith, Mark Shorthouse, Paul Morton, Rich Hanslow
We played The Red Lion reserves today, who have gained promotion, after winning the league below us with some ease last season. We were missing a few players through injury obtained against Shardlow on Thursday.
So with only 12 players we were down to the "bare bones" but the 12 we had were all regulars with enough talent to match any team. Mark Shorthouse was starting with a slight neck injury but declared himself fit (thankfully) because his form has been outstanding.
Well we started off well, and although we had a few" let offs" we went ahead with another Hanslow goal. Hanslow added another then Morton added a third so we should have been cruising.
With 25 minutes gone we should have pressed on to finish the opposition off, but I think that at times we're too nice or possibly naive, because we seemed to think we'd done enough to win it!
As we should have learnt from last season, we need to punish teams when we're in a commanding position, because if not it's all too hard to raise things again. Red Lion pulled a goal back and then added another on the stroke of half time.
At half time Martin and myself spoke about how quiet we were, because I was reffing it, and the only players I heard were Red Lion players.
Second half they drew level within 10 minutes, and then it was anyone's game to go and win, Hanslow hit the post and was unlucky not to get his hat trick. Then Red Lion got a penalty, but Haywood saved, when he reacted brilliantly to get down low.
With 6 minutes left Red Lion scored (which proved to be the winner) and although we had chances that's how it ended.
I'm a little disappointed being three up and losing, because although it was a friendly, it's a game that we should of won. However we showed good skill and attitude and probably wasn't quite as mentally strong as them (but that's down to our age and will come). I'm a lot more optimistic than before because there was a lot more positives than negatives today. Many players have improved, and hopefully continue to do so, and the signs are good for the forthcoming season.
We played Smith at centre half and he looked good in that
position, as did everyone else today. When they scored the winner Az (their manager) ran on like he'd won the cup, which shows how much it means to people to beat Gresley Rovers.
It was a game played in a great spirit from both teams, so credit to Az and his team, because I can't honestly think of any bad challenges or anything else (so a typical Red Lion side) which is great for our league. I think that they (like us) have a good base to build from, and I'm sure they'll beat a fair few teams this season. Lets keep focussed though lads and I'm sure that we will continue to improve and many teams wont fancy playing us this year.
We've got "the other" Red Lion next week (the 1st team) and I'm sure that Mark (their manager) is looking forward to it as much as me? Keep up the effort lads and well done today.
