This was never going to be a repeat of last week’s comprehensive cup result! We weakened, Poynton drafted in players for their A team and the result was a much more competitive game all round.
Our plan looked to have backfired from the off as Poynton quickly took a 2 goal lead as their number 11 took the game by the scruff of the neck. Another case of “Melloritis” struck the team, perhaps we need to warm up earlier but we looked asleep until Rick’s vocal timeout eventually saw our boys get to work!
The reaction was immediate – a great ball from Drew and a neat finish by Sam was quickly followed by a ball from Jamie to George who levelled the score within minutes. George turned provider as Tom hammered home another for a 3-2 lead.
Q2 started with a good save from Ned making his first full game debut in the Mellor goal and Josh and Sam both fed Tom for a couple of narrow misses. A great all round performance from Jack Royle playing in midfield and from Eddie Jenkins who looked more composed on the ball as he scored a fine solo goal – 4-2 Mellor. An injury to Josh saw Sam step into defence for a while and Tom’s ball to Drew saw us take a 5-2 lead before Eddie unselfishly fed Sam for a 6-2 lead. A poor end to the quarter saw Poynton’s No 11 march through on goal twice leaving us with a slender 6-4 halftime lead.
An eventful third quarter same George net a second with a great solo run but a sloppy goal conceded meant that Poynton were always in contention. Sam’s late goal saw an 8 – 5 lead into the final quarter.
And, as is becoming the norm, it was the final period of the game where we started to play something like we are used to. Drew steered us onto a 9-6 lead adding 2 more later on whilst Sam scored another brace and George added his third to see is finish the game with a resounding 15 – 6 win
We’re still a work in progress team but we allowed this game to be a better balanced tie which saw many of our younger players show what they are capable of doing – we’ll face tough ties against Norbury and Stockport in the final games before Christmas

Man of the Match – Alex Chambers – fantastic in defence and really controlled their attackers when we needed to