Diamonds u16's 3 - 1 Ise Lodge

[himynameisrob]

After two successive defeats, Diamonds eventually returned to winning ways albeit through a very disjointed performance.

The game started with both teams vying for possession, with Diamonds unable to keep the ball with poor passes and first touches letting them down. Ise Lodge took a grip of the first 15 minutes with the help of being gifted possession, and could find themselves unlucky not to be a goal up. After 20 mins, Diamonds started to get a grip on the game and five minutes later a long ball was floated in to the box, allowing Rhys Day to chest it down and finish in the bottom corner. Things got better a few minutes later when a Barcelona-style move (one of very few on the day) between Harry Underwood, Jake Cunnington and Dave Brazier resulted in the latter slotting cooly past the keeper. A third goal came before half time in bizarre circumstances when a long looping shot from Brazier seemed to float over the keeper and hit the back of the net, the ball then rolled back in to play and with the referee unsure as to exactly what happened, Rhys Day was on hand again to slot to ball in to put the "goal" beyond doubt. There was just enough time for Rhys to grab a first half hat-trick, but saw his penalty crash against the cross-bar.

The second half started in very much the same fashion as the first, but with Diamonds never really getting out of third gear, only a Jake Munt shot crashing against the bar was of note. Ise Lodge were given a life line in the last few minutes when Jayden Mann barged over their striker in the box, with the penalty duly dispatched. The last action of the game brought a good save out of make shift keeper Jamie Pedlar pushing a shot on to the post.

Overall, it wasn't the best performance but it was good to get back to winning ways, and will be crucial to get a good result against Uppingham Colts next weekend.