Hearts Spitfires made a strong showing on a surprisingly warm morning in Reading. The Spitfires team took the initiative from the off and had long spells of possession, with Woodley Saints finding it hard to find their rhythm. Eric and Theo were both dominating play up front with Charlie patrolling midfield and Misha martialling defence. Despite controlling the play, Spitfires weren’t able to get a clean shot on goal, so the first quarter ended with the scores level.

The second quarter saw the Spitfires pick up where they had left off, with lots of possession and they had soon forced a corner. Charlie attempted to play it short for Theo but the opposition intercepted and were able to head up field and force a save from Luca in goal. This was a wake-up call for the Spitfires and Eric set off on a trademark run which ended with a shot that was too powerful for the Woodley keeper. The ball was won back almost immediately from kick off and this time it was Theo who managed to shoot, only for the ball to be blocked and bounce away for another corner. The pressure from the away side continued with shots from Charlie, Theo and Eric but the next breakthrough came when Anna won the ball with a strong tackle in midfield. She was able to feed Luca who carried the ball forward and slipped it to Eric in the box who slammed home. Woodley Saints hardly had time to compose themselves as Louis this time won the ball back from the kick off before feeding Theo again who finished with aplomb. Again Woodley were struggling to get the ball forward from kick off and after some good tackling by Misha, Eric won the ball and set off on a powerful run. Despite looking like he was fouled in the area he kept his composure to slide a neat finish beyond the Woodley keeper just before the end of the quarter.

The third quarter started with Luca making a great tackle on the wing to win the ball back and Anna applying pressure from the front to win the ball high up the pitch. A shot from Theo forced another Hearts corner and after a tussle in the box, Theo popped up to score his second of the game. Woodley Saints were pushing forward now and Louis in goal had to be alert on two occasions to gather the ball at the edge of his area. Luca was continuing to cause problems in midfield, winning tackles and playing some neat passes. Anna was also able to win the ball for a throw and this resulted in a shot from Theo that was saved by the Saints keeper. Towards the end of the quarter the two teams appeared to be tiring, but once again Luca was able to intercept the ball, lay it off to Theo who sprinted forward and scored again.

The last quarter saw the two teams slugging it out in the middle of the park, with lots of throw-in’s and more shots from the Spitfires. Misha was switched up front and this tactical move soon paid dividends. Another Hearts corner was sent low in to the box and after Eric’s deflected shot, Misha was in the right place to finish neatly. The opposition were trying hard now to get something from the game and went on an impressive run, only for their forward to run the ball out of play. Anna was also required to save as a rare shot that came in from the opposition, but it was left to Eric to apply the finishing touches with another goal. There was still time for him to hit the crossbar with a shot that deflected off an opposition defender before Charlie had the last meaningful action of the game with a fierce shot that was held well by the Woodley keeper.
A good day for Spitfires ended with Misha being voted Man of the Match for his good listening, which got him in the right position to score his goal.

Chris Colnaghi

Match details

Match date

Sat 14 Oct 2017

Kickoff

09:00

Meet time

08:30

Team overview