At lot in the world has changed over that period and indeed, it was a new look Falcons team that made the journey, half-way to Wales, for the match against the Bisons of Burghfield.

A close match was expected. The Falcons played the Bisons twice last season, registering a 1-0 away win and a 2-2 draw at home.

But a new season with bigger pitches, bigger goals and a new team that, due to COVID, had never played a competitive 11-a-side match before together….how was this going to play out?

Falcons started brightly and, it’s fair to say held, the balance of play in the first half for long periods.

Our first goal of the season came after 5 minutes. Good team pressure and passing in the final third saw the ball played out to Max on the left, he put in a great ball which Eadoin put in the top left corner. (0-1)

Our second goal came from a super through ball from Stanley in midfield, Max raced on to it, and made the score 0-2 with a composed finish. No mis-steak.

With 9 shots on target in the first half (Bisons had 3) the Falcons were creating multiple good chances, but our finishing wasn’t quite there, a bit rusty perhaps, that will go over the next few weeks.

Our final attempt of the first half came from Finley, a blistering shot from the edge of the area that came back off the cross bar…unlucky!

It wasn’t all attacking, our defensive crew of Alastiar, Liam, Gabriel, Ioan and Cameron were really keeping things tidy at the back, intercepting attacks and limiting Bison’s chances to long distance efforts. They worked well with our midfield four of Frankie, Stanley, Eadoin and Christopher, who clearly won the midfield battle..

Half time and 2 nil up. Not too bad!! But we knew that the Bisons were a better team than they had showed, as the second half was to show.

After the restart, it was clear that psychologically, the next goal was going to be very important. We tried to steer the Falcons for this at half time.

Sure enough Bisons did pull a goal back after 3 minutes to make it 1-2. Falcons dug in and showed great resilience and again restored a 2 goal cushion.

Twelve minutes into the second half, a kick from Alastair was headed on by Stanley to Eadoin, who dribbled his way past three players to find himself 1 on 1 with the keeper. Finley making a great run too, pulled the last defender towards him and away from Eadoin who buried his shot in the bottom right corner. 1-3

This seemed to be a red rag to a bull, as there then came a period of Bisons dominance. They scored 3 goals in 10 minutes to come from behind and take the lead. 4-3! A couple were a bit scruffy, but they all count.

We made some positional changes at half time and it was clear that these combined with a more determined Bisons performance, were not working. So we switched them back!

From this point, last season, having lost the lead like that, we would almost certainly not have been able to summon the mental strength to come back in to the game.

But this is a different season. Falcons heads did not drop. They were not Cowed. Somehow, and from somewhere, they summoned the effort to push the Bisons back.

Eadoin put in a great cross to set up Finley, who scored a great goal, but it was chalked off for offside.

Still we pushed, right to the end, when, camped in the Bisons final third, Marcus played a ball out to Ioan who, with almost the last kick of the game, lobbed their keeper with a simply beautiful chip (4-4). Full time.

Overall, on-target chances were Bisons 9-14 Falcons , with the Bisons really making theirs count in the second half. Our shooting boots will improve with more game time. As will our overall fitness. (Get out for a run lads!)

Falcons can be proud of their physical effort and performance today, and for the mental strength they showed to overcome a major set-back, and get something from today’s game.

Well done (not medium ;-) )!

COYF!

Phill

Match details

Match date

Sat 19 Sep 2020

Kickoff

10:30

Location

Burghfield - CSA

Team overview