Flackwell Heath Colts (08/02/2004)
2003 - 2004 Season, Hithercroft Under 16s



Sunny but with gusty winds were the weather conditions for this match at the Flackwell Heath ground. Sam Vaughey was again on the touchline as the Hithercroft sub and Kevin Ife experienced his first ever running of the line.

The game kicked off at 10.06 with Hithercroft playing into the wind. Dan Reading, the Hithercroft goalkeeper was nursing an injury and so all the goal kicks were taken during the game by the fullback. Flackwell began with two corners, one from each side of the pitch but sent both kicks directly out of play. They then tried a long, high shot from about 30 yards out which came down onto the top of the Hithercroft crossbar. Tyrone Francis showed some dazzling footwork on the right when he dribbled the ball round a defender, took it round two others but then slightly overhit it to allow the ball to be cleared by a fourth defender. Another opportunity presented itself to the visitors when Scott Vincent played the ball forward down the middle to Dan Davy who turned and sent his shot just over the crossbar. In the 15th minute Frank Smith played the ball from the left of the pitch across to Tyrone on the right and, as the Flackwell keeper advanced, he hit the ball into the net to give Hithercroft a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, however, the Flackwell No 10 ran the ball through a wide gap in the Hithercroft defence and hit the ball past the keeper to level the score. From the restart the ball was sent to Tyrone on the right wing and he cut back inside and hammered the ball into the Flackwell net putting the visitors back into the lead. Hithercroft further increased their lead to 3-1 when Paul Morgan pushed the ball down the centre for Dan Davy to collect and he ran on to hit the ball home in the 39th minute.

The second half kicked off at 10.52 and after 7 minutes of play Frank played the ball to Tyrone who then went down from a tackle but he immediately regained his feet, took the ball on and sent it round the keeper and into the net to score his third goal of the match and giving Hithercroft a 4-1 lead. Flackwell were having about the same amount of possession and territorial advantage and came close to pulling a goal back. They shot a high ball towards the Hithercroft goal but Dan, the keeper, pushed the ball up onto the crossbar and then safely collected the rebound. Then Hithercroft were foiled from increasing their lead when Scott sent the ball through to Dan Davy who had his on-target shot deflected just wide of the upright by a Flackwell defender. In the 78th minute Scott again played the ball forward and, as the Flackwell goalkeeper came forward to gather it, Tyrone nipped through to beat the keeper to the ball and slotted it past him into the net. Flackwell then immediately hit back when they sent a high ball into the Hithercroft 18-yard box where both the keeper and the defenders left the ball for each other allowing a Flackwell player to gather the ball and tap it home. Three minutes later the final whistle was blown and Hithercroft emerged as 5-2 winners.

Both teams had played well and in very good spirit with very few free kicks being awarded by the referee.

Hithercroft scorers: Tyrone Francis (4) and Dan Davy