HARD FOUGHT TEAM EFFORT BRINGS WIN FOR 5s

Both sides knew the match would be tough. The first 5 minutes saw all attack against top-of-table challengers Folkestone. This was promising for the 5s. We were so close to getting a goal. But it never quite came, and Folkestone gradually fought back. About 25 min in, Charlie took a big hit outside the D to James in front of goal, reverse stick deflection, but it was about a foot wide of the post (but the hit was perfect).

They had one player that was dominating their play. The decision was made to take this centre-mid out of the game. The tactic seemed to work well, and they lost some of their attacking edge. They looked to weaker players to push the ball forward.

0-0 at half time. We needed to keep up what we did in the first half. The match was tiring, and Folkestone was a challenging opposition.

Charlie took a hit on a short corner to the left post, we just missed the deflection in.

25 min into the second half, the goal came from Charlie, but it was as much Andy Cooke's as it was Charlie's. Andy commandeered the ball through the D and took a shot a bit over a metre out, saved, and with lots of players around, pushed across to Charlie two metres away in front of goal. Charlie lifted it over opposition sticks to take a well deserved goal.

We now needed to defend our solitary goal. Folkestone had every inch of scoring ability and defending our lead would be scarily difficult.

Then, Tom Conway (goalkeeper) was caught alone in a one-on-one. His defence was perfect, coming out with perfect timing to meet the player near the top of the D. The actual save itself was quite simple, but it was Tom's preparation and composure that was great. For that, we kept our one goal lead.

Neither side gave up and it was full action right to the final whistle, which came as welcome relief. We certainly deserved the win.

It was a well earned team effort, and everyone deserved to get man-of-the-match. Nathan got the votes, giving him the official man-of-the-match. Thank you to Folkestone for kindly providing two umpires. Next week is Canterbury Friars, the only team to have beaten us in a year (in a league match).