Match report
Hawthorne Rangers 1 - 4 Houldings
by Eddie Bernard
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It's been a long time since Hawthorne Rangers took to the pitch, and so this first game of the Anfield Junior Summer League was eagerly awaited. Against fresh opponents, and with several new players to try out, Hawthorne were really taking a step into the unknown...
In the end, it was a very tough game. The pace was frenetic, and there was a lot of aggression on display. Hawthorne battled more than usual, making more chances and scrapping at the back, but Houldings just had a little too much.
Perhaps Hawthorne were unsettled from the new players, or a slight formation change, as they had a rather shaky start. At first it seemed like they were going to take an early lead, as they had almost all the attacking play for the first few minutes... but then they were caught napping - and despite a good save at the first attempt from stand-in keeper Jay T, at the second attempt a Houldings player managed to bundle it over the line. 0-1.
Minutes later it was the same thing. Poor communication in the middle led to Houldings getting away with the ball, and though the keeper got his fingertips to it, it wasn't enough to stop it going in. 0-2.
But it seemed gifting Houldings a two-goal head start wasn't enough. Poor defending was generally to blame for letting a third in - and so after just 11 minutes, the game was pretty much out of reach.
The Gaffer had seen enough and decided to make some positional and tactical changes to try to stem the tide. After starting so brightly, Hawthorne had faded fast for no real good reason. And just to prove the point that they were actually a decent team, Charly found himself in space on the edge of the area. He struck the ball well, and it swerved away to the right - just past the despairing reach of the Houldings keeper. An excellent goal made the scoreline a bit more respectable, and gave the Hawthorne players some encouragement.
That goal took the wind out of Houldings' sails a little. While they kept on playing some decent football, Hawthorne had more confidence and coped well with the danger. Jay T made a couple of good saves, and Joe in particular at left back had the measure of the wingers coming towards him, not putting a foot wrong all game.
The game remained 1-3 at half time, giving Hawthorne a chance to take stock and work out how they could get the crucial next goal. And that was nearly what happened early in the second half, when Danny G had a shot which was on target but there just wasn't enough power to beat the keeper.
At the back, Jack, in his first game for Hawthorne, had swapped with Jay T in goal, but both players did a great job and can't be blamed for any of the goals the team conceded. Jack in particular made some good saves and commanded the area well.
In the 45th minute, Hawthorne had another chance, when Adam B had a shot, but again it was saved. Hawthorne were genuine contenders in the game now, as Houldings seemed to lose their momentum, tiring a little as the game wore on. This gave Charly more opportunity to orchestrate the game through the midfield - and it resulted in a great little spell of dominance for Hawthorne, when chance after chance came their way...
Sadly, they didn't take any of them. On the first one, Charly was all on his own, and in the end he had to have a go himself, but he needed more support. That was repeated a minute later, and then again in the 52nd minute when there was something of a goalmouth scramble. Hawthorne had so many chances to finish it was unreal... but they just couldn't do it. At 2-3 it would have put a whole different complexion on the game.
Then in typical Hawthorne fashion they were punished for not taking their chances. Houldings broke free from the defence, which was a shame after all the hard work they'd done in the second half to not concede.
At 1-4, in the end the score suggests Hawthorne were well beaten. Though they perhaps deserved to lose, if they had cut out the silly errors and took a couple of their chances, it would have been very different. There's certainly a lot of potential on the horizon for this Hawthorne side, and they're sure to improve as the weeks go by.
| Team for the game | |||
| Jay T (1st half) / Jack (2nd half) | |||
| Josh | Michael | Warren | Joe |
| Ray | Jack | Danny B | Mark |
| Charly | Jay | ||
Subs: Danny G (20 mins), Adam B (HT)
Man of the Match: Jay T
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