North London Crickets vs Music Choice

Lineup (right to left, 4-4-2 formation)

1. Hal Godfrey Wood
2. Salman Ali
3. Craig Gaffney
4. Adam Kirton
5. Juan Carlos Torres Nava (JC)
6. John Robinson
7. Steve O'Hagan
8. Andy Hale
9. Luke Buffery
10. Jim Green
11. Ben Wakeford

North London Crickets continued their unbeaten run despite being forced to ring the changes for this venture to Hackney Marshes. The central defence was absent, meaning that midfield general Craig Gaffney was forced to drop back to shore up the defence along with the experienced Adam Kirton. Jim Green was also brought in to play attacking foil to Ben Wakeford. In addition, Hal Godfrey-Wood was drafted in not just for a Crickets debut, but also for an introduction to the art of goalkeeping.  Things weren't looking to bright after the first minute either as a sharp move by the opposition caught our newly assembled defence unawares, and a confident finish only left the team wondering how many it was possible to let in an one afternoon. All credit to the Crickets, though, who were not rattled and started playing passing football in spite of the muddy playing surface. Parity was restored by the best goal of the game, when Andy Hale controlled the ball on the edge of the area, and calmly curled it beyond the keeper for a majestic equaliser.

          This should have had Crickets in the ascendancy, but another panicky moment in the defence from Juan Carlos gifted Choice with another goal to make it 2-1. No worries again though, the Crickets didn't get flustered and equalised again when Ben Wakeford met an excellent Luke Buffery cross with a forceful downward header at the back post. The Crickets were now clearly beginning to gain some confidence, with midfielders O'Hagan and Hale asserting control in the centre of the park supported by the insightfulness of the wider players, Buffery and Robinson. The marauding runs of Jim Green were starting to reap havoc in the opposition defence, and he could have put Crickets ahead twice before he did, pouncing on a loose ball in the penalty box before clipping it over the goalkeeper. Salman had clearly got the short straw as the left back supposed to mark Choice's classy attacker, but this player saw less and less of the ball as the half progressed. At half time Crickets were clearly starting to exert a stranglehold over the encounter,

            The Crickets started the second half well, stringing a number of passes together but not as yet capitalising. Warning came at the other end as Choice's centre forward controlled and turned ten yards out, but Godfrey-Wood was gaining confidence by this time and so dived to his left to push the ball to safety. An attempted lob was then flicked just wide of the post, before Crickets broke upfield and Jim Green drove home to give the crickets a 2 goal cushion. A passage of play followed where the Crickets became bogged down, and Choice pulled a goal back after a good through-ball and some hesitancy in the defence. However, the Crickets had little to fear after Hale scored his second with a well placed low drive, and then completed a deserved hat-trick after Jim Green chipped it back from the by-line for an easy header. In the end the Crickets won at a canter, and throughout the match put together a number of bright moves. The defence improved greatly thanks to Gaffney's marshalling and by the end JC and Salman had the opposition attackers in their pockets.