3s EARLY CHARGE HALTED

After back to back wins in the 3s’ opening two games of the season, a rare feeling of optimism was beginning to resonate within the squad.

The Mighty Boro 3s prepared for their clash with Sinjuns Old Grammarians in traditional style, some late-night beers the night before and general raucous WhatsApp chat. They arrived to arguably the nicest pitches we are likely to play on this season (away from REMPF of course), they had this strange feature that most away pitches lack, they were actually flat! All of this boded well and played into the hands of the 3s' free-flowing total football approach that the new management had instilled into the players in a rigorous pre-season.

With the optimism high and spirits higher, the 3s began their battle. Oh...

Within the first minute of the game the 3s were already taking their second kick off of the game... 1-0 down.

The next 10 minutes were a frantic mess of football. Still struggling from the hangover of the first goal (and the one from those late-night beers), the 3s found themselves defending a dangerously positioned free-kick. It was hit well, but close to the keeper, unfortunately due to the pace on the ball (and the dodgy back of the 3s' keeper Andy) the ball spilled out of the keeper's grasp and into the path of the Sinjuns' striker. 2-0, and barely 15 on the clock.

Billy Crow, despite spending a year learning from the tactical genius that is Mark Simmonds, can be looked at as quite an inexperienced Captain. He showed none of this inexperience in his next move, an absolute tactical masterstroke. He brought on the 3s' new young, quick, powerful attacker, Archie Small, who instantly brought more life to their attack. He won a free-kick almost straight away and Vicente Borreguero dispatched the set piece into the far corner. As mentioned, a masterstroke, you might ask who made way for Archie, oh that was Billy himself... well-done skip, great move!

The 3s started to assert themselves for the remainder of the first half and came close to drawing level a couple of times, but frustratingly still were trailing at the break. A big second half was needed. Soon after half time it was 3-1... Still the 3s would not lie down, they battled hard and started to create some chances. Tom Rebeschini had been working well down the right hand side all afternoon, but he was caught in a late challenge and had to come off. He made way for Billy, could this be another great substitution for our new captain? No, 4-1.

One thing that was impressive about the 3s' performance this Saturday was their never say die attitude, even at 4-1 down with 10 minutes to go, they kept pressing to get back into the game. A couple of free kicks came and Vicente showed his precision with the dead ball, forcing the keeper to save well on two occasions. On the second Alex Coates was there to pounce on the rebound and bury home a finish any striker would have been proud of, not bad for a right back. Unfortunately the 3s ran out of time in their bid to get back into the game, but on the face of it you feel like they deserved something from it.

We go again next week with a nice away day in the cup, back to winning ways we hope.