SPARTAK 3 GT DODDINGTON 0

Last Sunday saw Spartak against Great Doddington. Spartak had just 8 players, seeing the return of Joe after a week off.

The starting Spartak line up was Lewis, Connor, James, Liam, Kyle, Joe and Harry.

Spartak had kick off Great Doddington intercepted and attacked and headed towards goal, but Connor was there to tackle, but the ball broke to Great Doddington who had a shot that went out for a throw.  From the throw Joe crossed, but it went out. From the goal kick Great Doddington attack and they shoot and the ball goes out for a Great Doddington corner. The corner goes across and out for a throw. From the throw Harry and Joe combine and pass to Kyle, but he gets tackled.  Spartak get the ball and Harry runs down the wing and crosses to Kyle,
the ball breaks to Joe who shoots wide. From the goal kick Great Doddington attack and they shoot, but Lewis makes a great save and distributes the ball quickly. The ball goes through to the Great Doddington goalie. From the next two Doddington goal kicks the ball finds its way to Harry who shoots wide to the left on one occasion and to the right on the other!

The Spartak pressure is starting to tell and Spartak get a corner, from the corner Joe finds Harry who leaps high to head the ball into the empty net. 1-0 to Spartak.

From the kick off Doddington attack and although James and Connor battle well, they get in a shot, but Lewis saves well. Doddington attack again and Connor stops the advance. The ball goes to Liam who passes a great ball to Joe who puts in a great cross, but the whistle goes to end the first half.

At half time the score is 1-0 and I ask sideline pundit Scott (Connor's dad, AKA Andy Gray) what he thinks and he says ‘ Doddington have had no real chances and the lead is well deserved and should have been more than 1-0’.

The second half sees Evan on for Kyle.

Doddington kick off the second half and are soon on the attack to make up the goal deficit. They shoot but the ball goes wide.

From the goal kick Harry passes to Evan who finds to Liam who puts a great ball back through to Evan who from his great run breaks into the area, but his shot is blocked. Doddington clear up the pitch but again James is there to shepherd the ball out of play for a Doddington corner. The corner is hit high and hard, but Liam makes a brave header to clear the danger.  The clearance finds Joe who makes a great run down the wing and gets a corner. The corner is taken by Joe and James jumps ‘head and shoulders’ above the other players to nod it in, but Harry meets it and makes sure of the goal. 2-0 to Spartak.

From the kick off Spartak chase the ball down and Evan wins the ball in midfield and he puts the ball through to Joe who is through one on one with the keeper and he skilfully puts the ball into the net to make it 3-0.

Again from kick off Spartak get the ball James intercepts passes to Evan and he gets the ball to Joe, who shoots, but it’s saved. Doddington quickly switch to an attack, but Connor sweeps up at the back and clears the ball. Within seconds Ethan finds himself on the edge of the box and he shoots and the ball hits the post and goes out
for a goal kick.

Liam takes the goal kick which finds Evan, he passes to Joe, there is a scramble on the edge of the   box, the ball breaks to Evan who charges into the box, but his shot goes across the goal.

Harry comes off for Kyle and Kyle is quickly into the game combining with Joe and he gets across in, but it’s intercepted by Doddington.  Doddington clear, but Connor reads the game well and passes to James to clear up the pitch. Liam and Evan combine well, but the whistle goes for full time.

A great all round passing performance the boys did well and deserved this great result. Well done boys.

Many thanks again to Dean Ashurst for officiating the game.

Thanks to Andy Verrion for the match report