LTHC Men’s 2nd XI 1 vs Old Halesonians Men’s 1st XI 2
MRHA T1 – Midlands 2
Saturday 20th October 2018
It was a warm and sunny day in Loughborough as Loughborough Town Men’s 2nd XI hosted promotion rivals Old Halesonians Men’s 1st XI. The game started slowly for Town as they struggled to keep possession when shifting the ball up the pitch. However, after 10 minutes of working their way into the game, they started to make opportunities with a couple of circle entries but unfortunately no outcomes.
The first goal of the game came from a short corner as David Otterwell swung wildly in a last-ditch tackle only to clatter into the stick of Old Hales forward. The resultant corner was slotted into the goal between the goalkeeper and the man of the post, questions being raised mainly at the post man, Jim Shepherd.
After this setback, Town started to ask more questions with some solid performances from Sam Stowe and Hitesh Patel but it was some quick thinking and silky hands from Adam Lamb that earnt the home side their first short corner. Despite a strong flick from Tom Clarkson, the score remained 1-0 until half time.
After what seemed to be an extremely motivating team talk from Lamb at the break, Town came out sloppily and were soon 2-0 down as Old Hales carried the ball through the Town midfield before working it to a free man in the circle to score.
This goal seemed to kickstart Town’s second half as some lovely build-up play culminated in a vicious strike by Chris Sibson into the bottom left hand corner to make it 2-1.
Town looked to surge forward for an equaliser but struggled as defender Jack Thomas decided on numerous occasions to give the ball straight back to Old Hales. This stunted Town’s progress until the final 5 minutes when Adam Lamb fired over from a shot that seemed more difficult to miss.
Overall a good performance from Town who were unfortunate not to get something out of the game.
