Ballsall and Berkswell Hornets 7 - 1 Kenilworth Wardens Colts
Eek! Another tale of two halves, this time Colts performances were surprisingly transposed. An excellent first half was followed by a despondent second half performance conceding five goals in the second half-hour period.
The boys started really well, with plenty of forward energy and some creative passing and running. Daniel up front was getting into great positions and Ky and Guy were doing admirably at getting attacks going. As usual we fell behind to a soft goal after an otherwise organised defence temporarily lost focus and played statues as Balsall players roamed free in the area to score an easy goal leaving Kyle no chance. A second goal was conceded spoiling another period of good play and useful pressure from the Colts. This one was an unstoppable belter from just outside the corner of the penalty area. Again no chance for Kyle, and couldn't really blame the defence, it was just a fantastic shot.
The Colts weren't disheartened though. Still more attacking play brought many cheers from all those watching and after considerable pressure it was a flowing break from Ky and a second wonder-goal of the match that got us a goal back. It's also the scond time that Ky has scored a belter from the edge of a penalty area. This one was a massive kick that went high, high in the air and came down perfectly over their keeper's head into the goal. 2-1 scoreline, and halftime arrived.
Normally Colts wake up and improve in the second half. Today's team, though, seemed to switch off, and allowed the Balsall team to waltz dreamily and skillfully through them at will scoring freely. They managed five uncontested goals in the half, leaving Kyle desperately frustrated, even though he could do nothing about most of them. He managed to stop initial shots on most of these occasions only to be let down by his defence who repeatedly allowed Balsall player to respond first to the rebounds and tap for easy scores.
It got to the point that the Balsall team opted to change their keeper over, give the proper keeper some outfield time, and even substitute defenders into attacking positions and vice versa in a quite precocious, even disrespectful, way. However the Colts were so despondent that Balsall were able to keep their pressure up, and although the goals eventually dried up for them, we still got next to no chances in our favour. By the time we were twenty minutes into the second half we were all hoping for the full-time whistle!
That was quite possibly our poorest performance, and our worst league defeat of the season so far. Such a shame as the first half saw our best ever team performance.