Rebels pay(ne) the penalty!
 
The rebels didn’t quite avenge the mauling they took from Wilbarston earlier in the season despite playing some scintillating football as the game ended in deadlock.

Wilbarston 1 Rebels 1

Just the one change from last weeks excellent cup win saw Bolts come in for the unavailable Will whilst a couple of late withdrawals from the squad due to illness left us with no subs.

Starting line up was  Ali in goal, Adam G, Sam, Matt and Aidan in defence, a midfield trio of HP, Reece and Bolts with Lakey, Scott and Ed up top.

For the second week running, we started brightly after Matt won the toss and decided to change ends so that we were playing against the wind – which eventually turned out to be a good decision (thanks to JD!) in the end.
There were no real clear cut chances by either team until Sniffer Bates snuck in at the near post to meet Scott’s drilled cross but somehow his shot cannoned back off the crossbar where Wilbarston hacked away to safety just before half time.

Up to that point the Rebels played some great football all over the park with Greeny and Aidan looking increasingly more assured down either defensive flanks, HP and Bolts working their socks off with some tigerish tackling while supplementing the usual high quality work from Reece. Up front, Lakey, Ed and Scott kept the opposition busy with foraging runs into the channels, whilst at the back Sam and Matt coped admirably with the pace of the Wilbarston strikers who only on one occasion managed to breach our defence – only to be denied by our ever dependable version of Shay Given in Ali who made an outstanding save. HT 0 – 0

The second half was very eventful as we continued to play some excellent passing moves which ended in a range of shots and crosses. As we increased the pressure we finally got our just rewards after being down to 10 men (as Bolts was having treatment for a nose bleed) Ed picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and lashed it towards goal where the goalie could only palm it into the net – queue the celebrations from the mass hordes of travelling support behind our dug-out  in the stand!

We continued to push forward looking for a second but were caught out with 10 minutes to go when after failing to clear our lines a Wilbarston midfielder connected with a well driven shot that beat our Ali but not our Thierry – I mean Aidan, who couldn’t get his hand out of the way (cricket seasons over son ;-) ) penalty scored by  Wilbarston – although television replays proved that the ball had already crossed the line….

Nonetheless the lads rallied again to raise their efforts as the game came to a frantic finish with the Rebels camped in their half still trying to play their way through with some well directed passes but unfortunately we were unable to take any chances that came our way. The last few minutes were end to end with some fantastic last ditched tackles being made from both teams before the final whistle blew.

Another top performance from the boys  who are improving with every game and showing  a great deal of maturity with it – be very proud of yourselves.
 
Chris/Neill