Corinthian Casuals Res (0) 0 Tring Ath Res. (2)3

I know how the report is going to finish but where do I start! After Saturday's excellent win we were faced with the prospect of facing 3rd in the table Corinthian Casuals away in Suburban on a Bank Holiday Monday afternoon with 8 players.

Having spent endless time a squad was cobbled together only for 2 players to drop out on the morning of the game. I was therefore grateful to Miles Blumson and George House to join at late notice and especially to the reformed Teddie Paul who after a day's work in Aylesbury finishing at 2.30 drove to the venue to be available for the second half.

Also grateful to Cliff Hercules for helping out and being stand in Physio, his advice was much appreciated .

On the bench also was our latest 69 year old signing .

On a baking hot day against a side unbeaten at home we started with Mark Richardson back in goal, a back 3 of Ross Hazel, Connor Richardson(borrowed from Crawley Green) and James Byerley.

The midfield 5 with wide men Tom Shaw and Frankie (T.B.H) Hercules were asked to defend initially and conserve energy . The midfield 3 of Alex Wilkinson, who looked very comfortable on his first start, James Shaw and Gareth Terblanche defended good areas in front of the back 3 and gave support to the front 2 of Dom Frazier(borrowed from Colney Heath) and Mesach Hendrickson (from Langford) who worked hard as a mini team and kept our opponents busy.

We let the opposition have the ball anywhere up to the halfway line, cut their options and then took our rest while in possession on a pitch in pristine condition. Gareth Terblanche had a " goal" disallowed after 5 mins but in no time Mesach Hendrickson skipped past their keeper to toe the ball into the net after 10 mins. Score o-1.

We then looked very comfortable with and without the ball and the lead was doubled with yet another Tom Shaw special across their keeper with an inswinging free kick from their left edge of the area with his right foot. Score 0-2.

Casuals then picked the pace up and made us work harder with our shape off the ball but with James Shaw marshalling the lads in midfield we restricted them to one decent chance which was blazed over the bar and the younger lads showed how much they've learnt by slowing down throw ins etc to take the pace out the game.

HT: Corinthian Casuals 0 Tring Athletic 2

We started the second half with the same shape but after 15 minutes changed to 4-5-1 to save the 2 wide men their legs. Although this forced us back temporarily a superb ball put in Mesach Hendrickson who was brought down in the area.

After some preamble custodian Mark Richardson scored confidently scored from the spit to wrap the game up on 65 mins. Score 0-3.

George House was introduced for James Shaw and he orchestrated keeping the ball, Miles Blunsom replaced Mesach Hendrikson and worked hard up front and dropped into midfield when needed.

And now to the most important bit!!! With I hasten to add the permission of the opposition I finished my 5th season at Tring Athletic by making my playing debut and achieved what Max Hercules, Luke Dunstan, George Carbery, James Shaw and certainly Gareth Terblanche can dream of - a 100 % successful pass statistic !!!!

Team: M.Richardson. R.Hazel, C.Richardson, J.Byerley. F.Hercules (C.Juraszek), A.Wilkinson, J.Shaw( G.House), G.Terblanche, T.Shaw. D.Frazier (T.Paul) ,M.Hendrickson (M.Blunsom)

T.B.H = The Better H.......

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