Wingrave Juniors (13/01/2002)
2001 - 2002 Season, Hithercroft Under 15s



On our last meeting Wingrave emerged winners by 7 goals to 4 but we were then only able to field 10 players. Today we had a full eleven (but no subs) but Wingrave were able to call upon their subs during this game. Since our last visit a couple of seasons ago their changing rooms have been constructed and are very impressive. Their pitch was in good condition and the weather was chilly but dry.

The game kicked off at 10.30am and Jason Guy, the Hithercroft captain, opened the scoring after 5 minutes with his shot going in after hitting a Wingrave defender. Then, 19 minutes into the game, he added another putting Hithercroft 2 goals ahead. He then was involved in the next 2 goals, the first coming 9 minutes later when he passed the ball back to Duane White who then hit the ball through a crowd of players and into the net. His second contribution occured when he collected the ball well within the Hithercroft half of the pitch, ran down the wing and crossed the ball to Dewayne Dublin who fired the ball into the net at 11.06 to put the visitors 4-0 ahead by half time.

Six minutes into the second half a penalty was awarded when Dewayne was brought down and he took the penalty himself, hitting the ball wide of the keeper to increase Hithercroft’s lead. Then followed a spate of corners for the visitors but they failed to capitalise on any of these. Ten minutes from the end of the game Dewayne had his shot pushed out to Jason who turned and rocketed the ball past the Wingrave goalie to score Hithercroft’s sixth. Jason added his fourth goal (Hithercroft's 7th) eight minutes later. With just one minute left Ian Duncan, the Wingrave manager, made his final substitution, saying “This one will make all the difference, ref”. However, the final whistle blew with Hithercroft keeping a clean sheet, so moving up the table from their current 8th place.
Overall, Hithercroft dominated the game having most of the possession and attacking moves. When Wingrave did advance they were quickly closed down by the visitor’s defence and Phil Lines pulled off some fine saves when called upon. Our lone supporter, Kevin Fuller, gave words of encouragement during the game and Des again ran the line.


Hithercroft’s ‘Man of the Match’ was shared by the back four (Riccardo Falconi, Matthew Stone, David Hill and Shahid Ahmed).

Hithercroft's scorers were Jason Guy (4), Dewayne Dublin (2) and Duane White.