Match report
Hawthorne Rangers 1 - 5 Leicester Colts
by The Gaffer
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On a rain soaked day Hawthorne were unlucky to end up on the wrong end of a 5-1 defeat. Although they never did enough to win the game, the score-line does not reflect how close the game actually was.
The game started brightly given the rainy conditions and for the first ten to 15 minutess there was not much to choose between the two teams. An injury to Danny B saw him replaced by Adam after 10 minutes but this did not affect Hawthornes start. Hawthorne had given a debut start to Alex and he was busy in midfield cutting out the opposition passes.
Leicester started to get the upper hand and around 25 minutes into the game they went ahead when the Hawthorne defence was caught out from a simple pass. Then on the stroke of half time Hawthorne conceded again when the Leicester right winger was left unmarked to slot home from inside the penalty area.
This was a cruel blow as Hawthorne did not deserve to be two-nil down after a decent first half performance.
The second half was also a tight affair and the third goal was always going to be crucial, unfortunately it went to Leicester ten minutes in and the game was then over. That could have been the signal for Hawthorne to throw in the towel but they kept battling and looking for a way back into the game.
The luck just wouldn't go their way though, when , just as it looked like they could get on the score sheet Leicester were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area. The kick should not have been given as nearly everyone saw a great sliding tackle from Josh who clearly took all of the ball, unfortunately the ref saw it different and Leicester went 4-0 up following a great strike from the free kick.
This did not deter Hawthorne and they deservedly got scored a rare goal from a corner when Charlie nodded in a simple header at the far post.
Hawthorne pressed on but were unlucky again when with ten mins to go as a good save by Darren resulted in him taking a knock to the head and he was replaced by Eddy. A couple of mins later another Leicester free kick squeezed past the Hawthorne wall and under Eddy putting the deficit back to four.
In the final couple of minutes, Alex nearly capped a good debut off with a goal when a great shot from 18 yards struck the post and went behind for a goal kick. It just wasn't to be.
Hawthorne now have an extra week before the next game due to the free weekend next week and this will give them time to regroup and look for those first points of the season.
| Team for the game | |||
| Darren | |||
| Danny | Josh | Jay T | Mark |
| Charlie | Alex | James | Eddy |
| Jay | Lee | ||
Man of the Match: Charlie
Subs: Adam, Luke, Mikey
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