On a very windy Monday afternoon, we returned to Everest for a rematch against Marnel, hoping to secure a win after a 3-3 draw last time out. Oakridge were kicking into the wind, and we struggled to get out of our half as the constant Marnel pressure forced us into a few mistakes, and we quickly went 3-0 down. Just on the stroke of half time, we were awarded a penalty which Tommy cooly slotted past the Marnel goalkeeper into the bottom corner to make it 3-1 and gave us a lifeline to go into the second half. After a good chat with the boys during the break, we came out on fire in the second half, full of confidence. We quickly forced the opposition back into their half with our relentless work rate and determination to get the scoreline back in our favour. We created numerous chances but couldn't find a way past their goalkeeper, who was making some outstanding saves (to us, he was their man of the match). Halfway through the second half, we won a corner, and it produced the goal of the game. The ball was swung into the area, was cleared and fell to Jackson, who was on the edge of the box... he set himself up. He struck a phenomenal half-volley into the bottom left-hand corner, which sent our team into hysterics and gave us the belief to go on and win the game. With the score at 3-2, we were awarded another penalty which Finley stepped up to take, he struck it well, but their goalkeeper made another outstanding save to keep his team ahead in the game. This seemed to knock the wind out of our sails a little bit, allowing Marnel a late goal as we were chasing the game to make it 4-2.

I wanted to add how proud I am of the boys as we changed our formation and tactics only on Friday, and they executed the game plan perfectly. When learning to play possession-based football, it takes time for everything to click. We dominated them with our intricate passing and work rate for large parts of the game. On another day, we would have scored the penalty to make it 3-3 and could have gone on to win the game, but this is football, and we will go again next time. 

Team: Ethan W, Ethan P, Jackson W, Oscar A, Blake M, Finely P, Alex A, Tommy S and Jack W