Firstly, happy belated New Year to all dearest readers. Secondly, I must apologise for my absence in writing my weekly reports. Alas, life has a knack of getting in the way of the things that matter most, and this is most certainly the case here. However, after popular appeal, I am back, and back with a bang this week!

Before we get started though, a quick recap. So, my last report left the team on the back of beating Southend at the start of December. Since then, the Loughts Men’s 4s have remained unbeaten with a close win over Upminster 2s, then draws on our return to action against Witham and Waltham Forest 3s respectively. This week, we faced the side that sat rock bottom of the league, in Bengal Tigers, but this was no less tricky as an assignment as all tests we have faced so far this season.

On the back of a bye week ourselves, Captain Rob was keen to wake everyone up, with eyes firmly set on a convincing win to end our two-game winless run. The team collectively agreed and you could feel the eagerness to get going grow in each player.

The start of the match saw the team dominate the early exchanges with goals from Jordan and Leo putting us 2-0 up inside 20 minutes. After a poacher’s finish by former rugby star Jordan (taking him to 4 for the campaign), Leo finished off a lovely team move that first saw pressure up front pop the ball to yours truly. Sliding the ball to Dan on the baseline, our magician swept the ball across goal to give Leo his third of the season, on a plate.

The rest of the half saw momentum swing slightly in the home side’s favour, but we kept our lead intact heading into the break. More of the same was the name of the game for Captain Rob, with our movement of the ball around the pitch the obvious avenue of success going forward.

The third goal in any contest is a key sucker punch to land, and we gladly took our opportunity on the stroke of 50 minutes. This time, some lovely quick play going forward saw the Tigers defence stretched and chasing their tails as we launched forward in numbers. In only his second appearance for the side this term, Percy fed a delightful ball into the D from the right side-line. The waiting recipient was none over than myself (somehow that far up the pitch), at which point a clearly planned fumble saw the ball evade the onrushing keeper leaving an open goal to hit from a tight angle. Rare as it is, I was able to slow down and calmly glided the ball into the far side-board for our deserved third of the match (and my third of the season to match).

3-0 was a commanding lead, but we still needed to be on our toes to keep our clean sheet intact, and keeper Harrison was formidable once again to clean up any sniff of his goal being breached. With such stability in defence and midfield, we looked to push for my goals and soon found them in perhaps equally unlikely sources as myself. Though, certainly, with more finishing prowess than me, both Mike and Connor leapt to three for the season as well. First, and much like Moses himself, Mike found his way into the D parted clear, and made the most of this opportunity to drive in and fire a hard strike into the far corner. And, to wrap things up, Connor timed his run from defence perfectly to found himself at the back post to finish off some lovely play down the right. And with that, the team were back to winning ways, and with a 5-0 demolition to go with it.

MoM nominations this week were well spread amongst Luke, Sam, Leo, Dan, Connor and Mike. Though, upon his anticipated return to the squad this week, Luke took the flowers after his endless endeavour saw him in the wars and chase any ball within 30 yards of his reach. Awesome stuff Luke! DoD this week was contested by Leo, Richard Horn, Jordan and Connor. Again, it was another returning figure to the squad in Rich H that took the award due to his late complete shutdown in concentration that nearly gave the Tigers a consolation goal. Unlucky Rich. Special mentions this week find their way first to Jordan and Connor for scoring striker’s goals under the scope of their very own adoring fans watching on from the side. Next to keeper Harrison who notched up another clean sheet for the season – taking him to 3 in all. And finally, to Captain Rob for yet another perfectly executed aerial pass forward – starting to show off now Rob!

Match week 14 sees the Loughts Men’s 4s return to winning ways in “ruthless” form, with a 5-0 victory to cement second-place in the league! Next up is a chance to get revenge against the only team to beat our storied ranks this year – Upminster 3s. Very well done all!

Signing off,
Ryan

Men’s 4s Season Stats:
Position: 2nd
Points: 29/42
Goals scored: 35
Clean sheets: 3
Goal scorers: Dan 8, Jordan 4, Leo and Ryan and Connor 3, Richard and Sam K. and Mike and Tom and Ryan and Sam B. 2, Rohan and Fergus
MoM (incomplete): Tom 2, Sam, Richard, Sam K., Harrison, Chris, Percy, Aaron, Luke, Luke
DoD (incomplete): Ryan 3, Chris 2, Richard, Will, Rob, Mike, JP, Rich H