South Rushden Jaguars vs. Finedon Volta Storm
Saturday 13th February 2010
 
Illness to Josh L. robbed your correspondent the opportunity to belatedly report on match day 15 against Finedon Volta Hurricanes. Josh Y lead the team, in a game of two halves with Carter being selected as Man of the Match and so captain for the next match against Finedon Volta Storm.
 
Winter continued to grip Irchester as match day 16 dawned cold but snow free. Apologises if the accuracy of this report is somewhat lower than seen in previous weeks, but as I sit in the back of a taxi writing this report, reading my notes is difficult to say the least, but I am considering retraining as a doctor because my hand writing is bad enough.
 
The coaches again entered the match with almost a full squad to select from, only Keown was unavailable for the game. The Jaguars started the first half as follows:
 
Goal-keeper: Josh Y
Defence: Dan; Josh L
Midfield: Oliver; Carter
Attack: Tom
 
The Storm kicked off, but immediately the Jaguars gained the upper hand with Ollie picking out Carter on the edge of the penalty area with a good pass. Carter moved forward before slamming the ball into the roof of the net at the near post leaving the goalie no chance.
 
The Jaguars continued to move the ball well with Dan, Oliver, Tom and Carter all making good contributions in attack. Whilst in defence Josh Y and Josh L were reduced to spectators for the majority of the time as the team put in a dominant performance without extending their lead.
 
The second goal finally arrived on 8 minutes following an excellent flowing move. Dan broke up a Storm attack in the left back area. His pass found Carter in central midfield, moving forward he then found Oliver on the right edge of the Storm penalty area, where he unleashed a thunderous shot which was still rising when it hit the back of the net. Bobby Charlton would have been proud of that one.
 
Gradually the Storm started to show more attacking intent to the end of the first half with Josh L and Dan making good clearances and Josh Y warming his hands in goal during Storm attacks. However, the first half closed with the Jaguars leading.
 
The second half started with the team showing a number of substitutions and positional changes:
 
Goal-keeper: Josh Y
Defence: Oliver; Carter
Midfield: Finlay; Diarra
Attack: Nathan

The Jaguars kicked off and immediately picked up at the same pace. Nathan making a strong run down left before picking out Diarra, who shot narrowly wide. Good defending by the Storm gave the Jaguars a series of throw-ins and then a number of corners taken by Finlay, who had started well in midfield and Oliver. The corners yielded a number of chances which came to nothing, but the pressure was beginning to tell and the Jaguars extended their lead after 3 minutes when the Storm conceded a free kick on the edge of their penalty area. Oliver stepped up to send another unstoppable shot into the Storm goal.
 
The goal sparked a response from the Storm who pushed forward striking the post and drawing good defensive work from Finlay and Diarra to break up promising moves. However, a strong attacking run by right-back Oliver set up Nathan who calmly finished. To their credit the Storm continued to play positively forcing a free kick and corner which Carter and Finlay cleared well.
 
The goals kept coming with Oliver who was at the centre of most of the Jaguars attacking moves, despite moving to right back, scoring twice more to extend the lead. He also linked play well creating opportunities for Diarra, before cleverly stetting up Nathan again from a throw in. Nathan squeezed the ball past the goalie.
 
Diarra and Nathan both showed good touches in the closing minutes however there was still time for one further goal. Nathan made an excellent run down the Jaguars left, drawing the Storm defence out of position. His great cross found a player in acres of space, it was of course Oliver who finished with aplomb to complete an amazing all around performance scoring 5 and having a hand in creating the other 3 goals, tremendous.
 
So the game finished with a comprehensive victory for the Jaguars, however it should be said that the Storm were game opponents who did not stop playing despite the one sided score. From the Jaguars point of view, everyone made a great contribution, but I think there was only one candidate for Man of the Match this week. Oliver will wear the Captain’s armband against Wellingborough Town, which promises to be an all together different challenge.
 
Excellent, well done team!!!!!!!!
 
Come on the JAGUARS! :o)
 
KL & JL 16/02/2010