‘Honours even’

Rushden & Higham v Rebels. 07/03/2010.

The Rebels returned to league action for the 1st time in 3 months and it showed. In a poor game on a difficult pitch the boys managed to scrape a draw.

The squad was:
Ali,
Greeny, Matt, Sam, Bolts.
Harry, Reece, Will.
Lakey, Ed, Oli.
Subs: Derek and Aidan.

The kick off set the tone for the whole game. We lost the 1st tackle and were soon on the back foot. R & H were 1st to the ball and stronger in the tackle. Against the run of play we took the lead. Oli produced one of the few moments of class, placing a left foot shot low into the bottom corner from the edge of the box on 9 minutes.

Instead of pushing on the boys again started backing off and were soon 2-1 down. On both occasions opportunities were missed to clear our lines as nobody took responsibility to clear the ball from the edge of our area. In the final minute of the half we finally managed to play some passing football. Reece and Oli playing some lovely one-two’s to put  Oli through with only the keeper to beat. To most people’s amazement the Ref decided the rugby tackle that bought Oli down was not a penalty and we went into half time trailing.

Half Time: R & H 2-1 Rebels.

For the 2nd half, substitutions were made and positions changed. Thankfully some of the boys decided to start making some tackles. Ed and especially Derek showed the team what we should have been doing from the 1st minute.

The 2nd half was much the same as the 1st, very scrappy and with no real quality. For the 1st 20 minutes R & H looked more likely to extend their lead and Ali made a couple of brave saves at attacker’s feet. Will scored our equaliser with 5 minutes left. He was released by a fine through ball but tackled on the edge of their area. Refusing to give up he won the ball back before hitting his shot over the keeper for the equaliser.

Final score: R & H 2-2 Rebels.

The boys did well to keep going and earn a draw on a sticky and rough pitch. Unfortunately many of the basics were missing today. No names were called, tackles were missed and all through the team the boys seemed reluctant to get stuck in.