With a brand new kit sponsored by local business Savill Brickwork Design & Build and several new signings making their competitive debuts, the Barracudas had a lunchtime kick off for their first ever league match at 7 a side on the bigger pitch, having played 5 a side for the previous two seasons.
As expected, Danbury & Bicknacre proved to be a good side who play nice football and both teams played their part in what was an excellent match to start the season.
The opening exchanges were very even with both defences standing firm, with new signing Oliver and Alfie who both had exceptional games, not allowing anything to get past them and both holding their defensive positions really well.
Eventually it was Danbury who took the lead with a close range finish after good work down the left hand side. However, despite this early set back, the Barracudas stayed positive and continued to pass the ball around nicely and the equaliser came when Josh burst through on goal with a low, hard finish into the corner. Within a minute, the Barracudas scored again with a lovely though ball from our captain, Jack, to Josh, who again finished with a low, hard shot.
The Barracudas then kept it tight up to half time with no further goals.
The Barracudas were next on the score-sheet in the second half when Josh took a touch past a defender and slotted home to complete his hat-trick. He then got a fourth, winning possession himself and outpacing the defence before finishing to give the team some breathing space.
Danbury then rallied and had a good spell - the Barracudas had to be disciplined and on top of their game to keep them out, with some great battling and passing from Louie and Zak in midfield and continued solid defending from the boys at the back. Tyler on the left hand side had incredible energy, winning tackles and running with the ball and making sensible passes, Kabir on the right hand side had a solid game on his league debut with some intelligent play and Ollie as always, had bundles of energy, getting stuck in and playing well, covering an unfamiliar defensive role at certain times in the game.
Danbury did pull one back as legs began to tire and Hugo, in his first appearance in goal (covering for the unavailable Charlie), made a fantastic save to preserve the Barracudas’ cushion.
Towards the end, just as both teams were starting to tire, having put their all into the match (a longer one than they’d been used to in previous seasons), the Barracudas popped up with the goal of the match. A lovely passing move from defence into Zak's feet, who knocked it wide to Jack (who was covering every blade of grass) and made a lovely pass to Josh, who burst through and rifled home into the corner to complete his five goal haul. It was an impressive display of finishing from Josh which won him Barracudas MOTM as voted by the parents.
Every single player contributed to a fantastic team performance in this opening match of the season, playing with smiles on their faces, working hard for each other and showing a tremendous amount of team spirit. Well done boys, mega proud of you all!
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