Port of Bristol vs AC Moose
Moose 1sts lined up for their second game of the season with a changed team due to some illness and injury. As always a very strong team took the field. Port of Bristol were immediately under pressure, boxed in their own half and struggling to get out. But they held Moose off stubbornly despite some good interplay from the team.
After some long stretches of pressure from Moose, Port of Bristol managed a long ball that Mike Stevenson was tracking back to Paul Cotterill. Unfortunately the ball landed on Mike's arm and from 60 yards the referee gave a penalty.
The tension built as their player stepped up to take the spot kick, it was a decent strike, but nothing to Paul Cotterill who met it with two strong hands. He was joined by Herculez who crashed in to win the duel for the rebound and get the ball clear.
The tension built as their player stepped up to take the spot kick, it was a decent strike, but nothing to Paul Cotterill who met it with two strong hands. He was joined by Herculez who crashed in to win the duel for the rebound and get the ball clear.
Moose continued to pin Port of Bristol in, but struggled to get the final ball right to make a really clear chance meaning at half time it remained 0-0.
With a few half time changes the game restarted but stayed at a deadlock, although both Jamie Higgins and Aidan Kee came close to getting the opener.
Moose remained patient though and when Alfie Sloper and Ciaran Dougherty were reintroduced on each wing they soon combined to finally break the deadlock. A perfect crossfield pass from Alfie caught out the opposition left back allowing Ciaran to collect the ball and arrow a low shot into the bottom left corner. 1-0. More pressure followed and a period of slight wastefulness in the Port of Bristol half meant we had to work for a second.
Jamie found himself with some space in the final third and slid Alfie in down the wing. Alfie hit a left footed shot and beat the keeper at the near post to secure the win.
All around this was another patient and composed performance from Moose 1sts. Some notable performances from Alfie, grabbing a goal and an assist. Sam Jones, stepping up for his first game with the 1sts and immediately looking the part. Herculez with a debut full of key contributions in several positions. Paul Cotterill, making an excellent penalty save at 0-0. And Seb Edwards, who again ran the game from deep midfield.