M&T Jaguars vs Sholing 5th March ’23

An unbelievable game today at Timsbury Rec.

With Harrison, Aidan and Theo unavailable, AJ stepped in for his first league game since signing.

We actually started confidently and right from kick off put some good passing moves together.

Sholing were well up for the game though and closed us down very quickly with their press.

We started to let this affect our play and began to try force the game, taking too many touches, instead of moving the ball quickly around their tight defence.

Sholing took the lead when they split our defence and their striker left Rowan no chance with a good one on one finish.

We continued to look a bit shakey and needed half time to come fast.

Half Time – Jaguars 0-1 Sholing

We regrouped at halftime with a good team chat with valuable contributions from Mally and Aidan who had come to support his team mates despite his head injury.

We focused on winning more first balls at the back, moving the ball quicker and utilising our pace up front.

The half started with a disaster as Sholing nipped in early to make it 2.0.

This could have thrown all the good work at half time out the window if heads dropped and people started moaning. Thankfully we have developed so much with mental attitude and we all have total belief that a game is never over. Rowan showed more positivity when picking the ball out of the net and clapped his team mates on giving encouragement.

It was clear that the boys still were confident of getting a draw from the game.

We went up about 4 gears. Thomas was immense at the back and won so many firsts and gave us a foundation for the attack to go from.

We came close a few times and we hit the woodwork several times. I thought it just wasn’t going to be our day.

Yet again, what looked to be a certain goal was saved by the Sholing keeper but this time it fell to Lloyd at the edge of the area. It was only a half chance and one which would be easy to sky over the bar. Lloyd struck it perfectly first time and it rocketed into the net.

Now I had no doubt the we would pull this back as the boys were on a mission.

Glyn and Ollie were winning lots in the middle and were releasing the ball early to the wingers or strikers. We were creating plenty of chances now.

We got the equaliser when AJ rounded the goalkeeper to tap into an open net.

We still had time so could we get a winner?

AJ was causing so many problems up front and it was his work that put us 3.2 up with a deflected shot.

Eddie and Glyn were calming the players and helping them focus after the euphoria of taking the lead.

Sholing had some pace up front and with Theo missing I had to improvise to add that safety blanket to the defence. Step forward Mally who wanted to help his team over the line and dropped back to add his speed to Eddie and Thomas. Great team play.

It proved vital as in the last few minutes Mally won some critical challenges, one of which resulted in AJ powering clear yet again. AJ smashed the ball at 100mph to seal his hat trick and 3 points for the Jaguars.

Full time – Jaguars 4-2 Sholing

We were far from our best in the first half but we have to give credit to Sholing who played superb and put us under lots of pressure.

It was our positive attitude and mental strength that got us this win. Many teams would have folded at 2.0 down but we didn’t. We always believed.

Player of the Day

Votes for Lloyd, Eddie and Ollie for player of the day.

Thomas played really well and had a huge impact on the game. This was noticed and he came second in the votes for player of the day.

No doubting the winner today though, AJ took a huge majority of votes and his performance today was exceptional. He made it look too easy at times. Scored a hat trick and if he works on finishing calmly he could be getting 6 goals a game!

As always, we came away very proud. Not especially for the whole performance but for the positive attitude and belief. Well done boys.