Witton Albion JFC

Match Report by Brian Roberts - official u17 (1989) correspondent.
Not sure what we were expecting on the sidelines today – all we knew was that this is an iconic historical derby match between two pillars of Mid Cheshire Junior football. However the edge to this match comes from the two sets of Managers and Coaches that have had some great battles in recent seasons so I guess we should have expected a full blooded match and that’s exactly what we got!!!!
I may be a little bit biased but it felt in that first half that we had most of the possession but more importantly we were also playing the better football. However, Middlewich were definitely fired up for this game and maybe they saw an opportunity of turning over a team a year younger than them. Maybe not the greatest quality if I’m honest but it was a exciting first half and there were some emotive voices on both sidelines.
Credit to the Middlewich players - they made life difficult for our boys and let’s be honest we all thought it was going to be a goalless first half. That was until Matty got the ball on the right hand side of the pitch. “Cross it I said” (he took on another player) “cross it now” I shout (he took on another player) “ahhhhhh he’s wasted that” says me disappointedly – to then watch him send the deftest cross into the six yard box where Jack rose up majestically to steer a header away from the keeper and into the back of the net – what a goal!!!
Half Time 1 – 0
So off we go in the second half - this game is not finished by any means. As Witton continued to try and play our normal beautiful football Middlewich did everything they could to spoil it – and they had a few moments of their own. This was an exciting game and the pressure from Middlewich felt like it was building and building. There were some colossal performances out there right across the park. I changed my man of the match nomination from Connor to Josh to Matty, and then Muzzer came on and was a man demented - he was dynamic down the right wing and Middlewich could only stop him by giving away fouls. But then Max showed up when Middlewich finally got past our defence - they were hit with an incredible performance by our keeper. There was one point blank shot when we all turned away thinking it was an equaliser – this was just the start of a series of incredible saves and also some really safe handling that just fills the rest of the team with confidence.
There is always some nice team work between our Captain and his mate Connor …. Today they were definitely on the same wavelength, whether it was quick throw in or tactical free kick and that telepathy brought us our second goal. Josh quickly played a free kick back to Connor who sent a tantalizing cross deep into the Middlewich box which caused utter chaos in their defence and resulted in a handball and a chance for our captain to score from the penalty spot. As ever our cool ‘Capitana’ kept up his impressive penalty record and nonchalantly walks up and scores making it 2 – 0 to Witton.
Again in the last 15 minutes we knew why we paid so much money for our goalkeeper as he stopped every chance (and half-chance) Middlewich threw at us. Another awesome Sunday afternoon thanks boys.
Final score Witton 2 v 0 Middlewich
Outstanding Performance Max