Bay Horse 1-1 Ravens

Ravens went into this game against a team that we had beaten 6-1 in the reverse fixture, almost full strength we could sense a morale boosting victory.
The game did not start very well for us, although the pitch did not help, passes were flying around with not a lot of thought going into them, this lead to us going 1 down, when Grant received the ball back from defence, he was closed down quickly and his pass was intercepted and converted, Ravens kept the sloppy passing up and only a few cameo runs and crosses from Mitchell Penn to liven up the travelling fans.
Half time came with the score at 1 to zip. The whole team was unhappy with how we were just throwing the game away. However moving Kyle Moss from Right back to left midfield, Ross Evans back into midfield and Ollie Patterson to centre back. We started the second half looking a lot more like we wanted to play our own game, with Ross Evans dropping back into midfield pulling more strings then Bob Dylan. He was bringing influential players into the game that they were just watching the first half pass them by. Dropping deep to break up the play and passing long raking balls to people in space. With Mitchell Penn becoming more effective and Kyle Moss looking dangerous on the left wing, Ravens began to pile on more pressure then an elephant doing star jumps on a trampoline. Ross Evans went close with a free kick from 30 plus yards that dipped like chips in ketchup. Rob Olding also went close when Mitchell Penn flew down the line to pick him out near post from 6 yards, only to see his team mate blaze over. This began to become an onslaught as Bay Horse parked the bus in front of their goal. Camped in the opposition’s area Ravens began to turn the screw like Handy Andy. It was then the goal came when Mitchell Penn received the ball in his own half and fed to Ross Evans who held onto the ball well until Mitchell Penn made a glorious run which was picked out by a gloriously slotted through ball from the impressive Ross Evans. Mitch took a touch and loaded the dishwasher with a beautiful ball in, just as Matt Hennessy was jumping to head in he was pushed in the back, the loose ball fell to Agron who swivelled and let a shot fly to Rob Olding who slotted home from close range.
This was our game now and everybody was passing the ball around well, Rob Bentham was flying from left back and the impressive Liam Dodsley was flying forward from right back, at a crucial time in the game we were denied not 1 not 2 heck not even 3 we were denied 4 blatant handballs in the area in a frantic 30 seconds. Ravens couldn’t Adam and Eve it, but like true champions we kept knocking on the door and when the ball fell loose to Matt Hennessy in the area he let fly with a right footed shot which had the keeper beaten but a defender appeared out of nowhere to head off the line to deny a fairytale ending. No matter how hard we knocked on the door nobody thought to ring the doorbell. The game somehow ended 1 a piece.

Player Ratings
Grant Sadler-6- Made a mistake for the goal but did not look troubled apart from that.
Liam Dodsley-8- Was the only Ravens player to have a good first half, putting his head where it hurt and getting stuck in. 2nd half when he was put at right back he played even better and got forward well.
Kev Brooks-7- Forming a good partnership with Liam Dodsley, composed under pressure.
Rob Bentham-7- Sloppy first half but 2nd half produced that dynamic display we expect from him, flew into everything and got forward well.
Kyle Moss-6- Played too many difficult passes in the first half but looked a lot more comfortable on the left in the 2nd half. Linked well with Rob Bentham.
Jamie Hawthorne-6- gave his all and got into some good positions.
Ollie Patterson-7- Looked assured in centre back and broke up play well in midfield.
Tim Brown-6- A few clever touches in the packed midfield in the first half. Came off injured.
Mitchell Penn-7- Got forward well and put in some good crosses, played well when he had the ball to feet.
Ross Evans-9- A quite first half but in the 2nd half he completely ran the midfield, broke the ball up and brought everyone into the game. Got forward well. Went close with a powerful free kick.
Rob Olding-6- Took his goal well, went close several times.
Substitutes
Agron Telly-7- Ran tirelessly and closed down defenders, good work for the goal.
Matt Hennessy-6- Back from a long layoff, went close to scoring, went even closer to being subbed.