On the 7^th March we played Mossley at home. And what another humdinger it was.

We started off very well and James put us ahead after about 10 minutes. James started the move. He put in a super ball to Danny across field. He crossed it to Ashley who passed it back to James who pounced on the ball to hit it around the keeper – to the great delight of the crowd who I think were all willing him to score today. And boy did he score!

He scored goal number 2 after Danny had produced a super ball across for him to slam in the net. Danny was on fire today. He played very well. He was very creative and lost his man with ease. His speed was a killer. We used the wings well today and Danny and Stephen did a lot of work and looked good. We created lots of chances as well. Danny just missed connecting with a brilliant cross across goal from James after good play from Mikey and Stephen. Darius and Ryan were both feeding Stephen very well and utilizing his wing to good effect. Ryan was also unlucky when he put in a fantastic ball across goal which was just too strong to connect with. Stephen then put in a super cross but Mikey was offside as he put it in the net.  We were making chances but didn’t realize how much we would rue the fact that one of them hadn’t gone in.

We were on top and even more so when Ashley scored to make it 3-1. A super ball from Ryan found James who ran down the field. He held the ball up superbly and put in a fantastic cross for Ashley. He tapped the ball in the net. This was a superbly well worked goal and absolutely brilliant play by James. He was having the time of his life out there today!

As if that wasn’t enough, he then scored number 3 for him and number 4 for us. A well earned hat trick! This time Ben put in a great ball through for James to get on the end of. I was really pleased that James ended his goal drought and how did he do it? In some style with a well taken hat trick – and he could have had more. We created lots of chances and James, Ashley, Mikey and Danny all had chances to score but were unlucky. And how we regretted not one of these going in when they equalized with almost the last kick of the match. We should have won. We murdered them with some pacy football and did not deserve a draw. They certainly didn’t deserve a draw. We were the better team and could easily have had 8 goals. All the team played well. From Ben and Danny in net; the defence of Darius, Stephen, Liam, Jordan, warren and Sean (thankfully back on true form thanks to his new miracle insoles) – he was sensational at the back, particularly near the end when he and Liam really showed up well – both putting themselves on the line. It was nice to see him back to himself.

The midfield also played well. Stephen was superb on the wing, as was Danny on the opposite wing. Both stood out for me today and Stephen deserved his man of the match. He had a super game. Mikey and Ryan worked hard, Ryan passing some fantastic balls and controlling the play well. Liam, Ben, Paul and Darius also did well when moved into midfield. Ben, again was everywhere. Where does he get his energy from? Up front Ashley looked potent and James was outstanding. Not only did he take his goals well but his general support play as well and his cross to Ashley for his goal was absolutely pitch perfect and sublime. A deserved winner of the Manager’s man of the match.