Match report
Hawthorne Rangers 1 - 3 Skem Rangers
by The Gaffer
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Hawthorne got the new season under way with an opening day defeat against Skem Rangers. The final score of 3-1 was no disgrace against a good team who were last years cup winners. Hawthorne received a surprise when last year's keeper and 2008/09 Player's Player Darren returned to the side at the last minute to give the whole team a boost.
Hawthorne also gave league debuts to Lee and Shaun, both players having been brought in to strengthen the attack, which lacked numbers last year. On a nice morning the game started brightly with Hawthorne having the first clear chance inside five minutes. Charlie, fresh from his hat trick last week, latched on to a loose ball and fired a shot; what looked like a certain goal then agonisingly slid past the post. Had it gone in, it would have stunned Skem but this near miss woke them up and they took control of the game for most of the first half.
From then they dominated possession and although Hawthorne defended well they went behind to a soft headed goal 5 minutes before half time when the defence failed to clear a tame cross in the area. The goal had been coming but Hawthorne struck back 4 minutes later with the goal of the match. Charlie looked to have lost the ball on the edge of the area and was battling with a Skem defender for possession.
But he showed that persistence is what you need in football, as the loose ball ran on to Jay Thorpe who hit a great shot from about 25 yards out which sailed past the keeper. Hawthorne just about deserved to go in level for their overall effort but unfortunately they could not maintain it in the second half.
In the second period there were several changes in the team to keep the team fresh and also due to an injury to Danny B, who had had a very good game in defence. This gave a chance for all the subs to make an appearance but they could not stop Skem putting another two goals in to finish the game at 3-1.
Although an opening day defeat was disappointing the performance was a big improvement on last year when Skem ran out 8-1 winners. Overall there were lots of positives to take from the game and two solid performances from Adam and Danny B earned them MOM awards. Meanwhile, Lee and Shaun had good debuts with Lee looking pretty lively. This bodes well for the rest of the season and with some other new signings imminent things are looking up at Hawthorne.
| Team for the game | |||
| Darren | |||
| Daniel G | Josh | Daniel B | Adam |
| Jay T | |||
| Lee | Shaun | Jay S | Mark |
| Charlie | |||
Men of the Match: Daniel B and Adam
Subs: Luke, Eddy and Mikey
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