The U11 Blues played Binley Woods at Whinfield this weekend and both teams played out a brilliant match.
Hillmorton raced into an early lead when after just 5 minutes Noah raced onto a ball from James and calmly shot home. Next it was James’ turn to lash a drive home into the top corner to double the lead. More sweet strikes were to come from James, when mid way through the half he scored a 20+ yard free kick, and then completed his hat trick after just 23 minutes, following up a saved shot with a clinical finish.
Despite the score line, it wasn’t one way traffic and Binley repeatedly tested Olly in goal who denied them with some quality saves. Binley Woods never let their heads drop and were a constant threat, and it was no surprise that they came roaring back after the break.
The deficit was halved when they scored 2 early goals, and the Blues knew they had a battle on.
A complete turnaround was playing out, with the Blues defence now under constant pressure. George M, Warren and Teddy fought valiantly at the back, but with 10 mins to go, Binley got a 3rd with an excellent finish and the volume of the support reached new levels.
Just when it seemed like the comeback was really on, James had other ideas, striking a corner so sweetly that no-one could get near it, including their goalie, and it flew into the far corner of the net. A minute later, George C played a quick through ball to Noah, and he showed composure to round the goalie and shoot home in style. Binley still didn’t give up and scored again only for it to be disallowed, and also hit the bar in the last minute.
It’s a year on since we tragically lost Cory, and he would have been very proud of all the Blues today.
It was great to see Brad at the game too, and well done to James with his brilliant MOTM performance.
Thanks go to both sides – a great game to watch.
