A satisfactory run out for the boys under 12s as they took on Heaton Mersey in wet conditions. Despite the 13 goals, there was a lot of time spent with only 9 or sometimes 8 players on the pitch as Mellor struggled to adapt to some unusually exacting refereeing for this level. Heaton Mersey, sportsman-like as ever, looked well drilled but sometimes were let down by the quality of the odd pass.
It was Sam Simm’s first run out and it was great to see some composure with the ball in his stick. The back three of Alex Chalmers, Toby Halls with Ellis Booy/Ollie Plant played well with, yet again, George Schonfeld and Jamie Mochan interlinking well time and time again.
Mellor scored four in the first quarter without reply – the first coming in the opening seconds from Jamie with the assist from Joey Bissell. The second was a low hard shot from George, as was the third – this time another solo effect following a deflection. A nice pass from Jamie was despatched deftly by Joey for the fourth. Heaton Mersey had their best opportunities of the match as they managed a period of pressure, but both shots, which surely would have ended up in the back of the net if it wasn’t for the atrocious conditions, stopped dead in the mud.
In the second quarter, there were a further three goals. The first was another solo effort from George as he ran through two defenders. The second came from probably the best passage of play as, following some patient passing, George read an excellently timed cut in towards the goal from Josh Myers which he put away in some style. Miles Plant ran pretty much the length of the pitch to score the third to leave the score 7-0 at the halfway mark.
The first score of the third quarter came from Finn Howie assisted by Josh. Alex then took the opportunity to run well out of defence, which after some well worked passing, led to George linking up with Jamie who put away a low shot. Then followed Heaton Mersey’s solitary score from a solo run by their big number 32. There were two further goals in the quarter – another from the Schonfeld/Mochan combination and the other was a great shot from Miles Plant.
The decision to shorten the final quarter was made because of the lure of the particularly fine post-match chilli (courtesy of Suzie Mochan) which the coaches and officials clearly wished to enjoy sooner rather than later. Ellis was very unlucky to miss out on getting on the score sheet following a fine effort, only being stopped by an equally fine save from the Heaton Mersey keeper. Joey put away the twelfth goal of the match and Jamie finished it off with his fourth, after somehow coming out of a scrum of bodies competing for a ground ball in the mud with the ball in his stick.
Another comfortable win to continue the unbeaten run so far this session.