Witton Albion JFC

After a seemingly endless round of completely futile cup matches and a “mid-season” half term break just 1 month in, Witton Wolves turned up at their old home ground, Sir John Deane’s, for a match against local rivals Davenham Rangers. Woolly hats abounded as a chill north wind blew briskly over the shivering parents; “why isn’t the gazebo up”, “where’s the café”, “this grass is wet”, "where's Wally" were just some of the more printable comments heard from the travelling Witton army.

Witton roared into the attack immediately with Ollie, who was bundled over the box and Dan was able to pea-roll the resulting penalty, despite the shouts of “power, smash it” from the manager. 1-0 in the first minute. More followed as Harry latched onto a bouncing ball, launched it into the stratosphere and once it came back down to earth with snow it flew straight into the net. Nonetheless, Davenham woke up and despite the attentions of Tom, Finn and Alex, were able to score 2 goals in quick succession. Witton did not despair, as Ollie again turned provider for Noah to slam home from a tight angle before Davenham responded with a fluke goal which bounced bizarrely over the Witton net custodian. With onlookers struggling to keep up with the score, Witton punched back just before half-time as Sam smashed a quality volley into the net.

For most of the second half the goal flood abated slightly, with Fin O and Luke particularly strong at the back, Theo providing some useful pressing in midfield and Sergeant Wilko bombing down the right flank with ease. It was one such run that set up Keegan for a penetrating run and pass into the box, after a short period of “no please, after you” between Ollie and Thomas, Damien decided enough was enough and scored left footed past the advancing keeper. Keegan was now plundering with ease on the right and sped off on another sprint, crossing for Damien to slot home the 6th of the day.

More than 5 years since Witton last beat Davenham, a happy management group saw Witton leap up to third in the table and looking ahead for more of the same in the next few weeks. "No heads down, no complaining, proper team today" the almost non-grumpy manager enthused at the end.

Captain’s man of the match: Keegan
Managers man of the match: Luke
Magic moment: 6th goal combination between Elliot, Keegan and Damien
Quote of the day: “you're the violinist - start playing the strings”