Spartans U11s 5 Morpeth Millenium 3

As has been ususal at the start of the season, our first match was in the Divisional Cup. We were at home to a side we know well having played them in a couple of friendlies and twice in the league last season. Based on this, we knew it was going to be a close game and we should be prepared for extra time and even penalties.

As expected, there was very little between the two sides and a defensive mistake from a throw in gave Morpeth the opening goal of the game when a shot was fired in from out wide on the left that gave Dan no chance. Chances were had by both sides, but some good defensive work and goalkeeping by both teams kept the score tt 1-0 until Besty popped up with his trademark run and goal to make it 1-1 at half time.

The second half saw Jack take on the Morpeth defence down the right and as he cut across into the box, he was brought down for a penalty. A quick converastion between him and Besty which I overheard as "maker taker" saw Jack put us 2-1 up with a perfectly positioned penalty. However, Morpeth came back and scored two virtually identical goals from corners when the ball dropped in the six yard box and despite several attempts we never cleared it far enough before it ended up in the back of the net. The pressure was now on Spartans to get an equalizer as the clock started to run down and Jack provided it to take the game into extra time. He must have been pleased with his finish based on his cartwheel celebration.

Extra time started perfectly when we put the ball forward from kick off and Adam played a perfectly weighted pass for Sam to run onto and take forward into the penalty area before he took the shot to put us 4-3 up. More confidence came to the team as we looked better prepared and Jack went on to make it 5-3 with his first hat trick for Spartans. This game was now ours with the goal margin we had. The second part of extra time saw Spartans controlling the game with Morpeth pushing players up to try and score and we were unlucky not to add another couple.

This was a great all round team performance with all the lads playing their role in their firts competitive 11-a-side match. We are now at home to Ashington in the next round.