Our white and red gladiators went into battle once again, looking to stretch their unbeaten league run to 21 games. Spring was in the air, a nice change from recent bitter cold matches and the boys ran through their warm-up drills, focused on technique, rather than just the need to warm up.

Our hosts were Norbury and their tight little pitch wore the battle scars of recent rainy days and previous matches. They too practiced with a purpose, showing that this game was going to be a tough challenge. Good possession from the boys greeted the start of the game, patiently looking for the opportunity to get off the mark. George Shonfeld eventually managed to squeeze out a pass having been knocked to the floor, setting up Josh Myers for the first goal. Again, the boys kept the pressure on, retaining possession well in these early skirmishes. Jamie Mochan seemed to wage a personal war with the upright, hitting the post three times in the space of minutes. On one occasion, sharp reactions from Josh saw him take the rebound and slot in another goal to make it 2-nil. Jamie got on the scoresheet soon after, cutting in from the right and finishing with aplomb. When Norbury did venture into our half, our starting defence of Alex Chambers, Toby Halls and Robbie Wilson, stood tall, whilst Ned Donovan was, as ever, assured in goal. The quarter ended with Alex making a surgical incision through the Norbury midfield, linking with Joey Bissell, who provided a beautiful looping pass to Ollie Plant who slotted home. 4-nil the quarter ended; a fantastic start from the team.

Despite the score, it was obvious that Norbury posed a threat and they came out in Q2 like a different team, having been rallied by their coaching staff. Belief and a new injection of aggression saw them immediately take the fight to Mellor and soon their threat was translated into results; two quick goals halved our lead. But we have not completed this unbeaten run without being able to absorb set-backs and a George-Josh combination took us to 5-2, followed by Josh linking with Joey for 6-2. However, Norbury kept coming and they finished this period the stronger with another goal to make it 6-3. In doing so, they won the quarter, something that we’d only experienced twice this season.

With a season-high squad of 16, coaches Rick and John did excellently rotating the team. Credit goes to them for utilising the younger boys throughout, even in a tight game. Ellis Booy, Miles Plant, Eddie Liles, Finn Howie, James Smith and Freddie Jenkins are all growing in skill and stature by being involved in such games.

It was Mellor’s turn to hit the ground running after half time, with Jamie taking a good pass once again from Joey to stretch the lead, before Joey got another himself with an excellent rising shot to make it 8-3. Ned kept the score down, regularly thwarting Norbury’s efforts, whilst the midfield, including Will Hodgson, worked tirelessly switching defence for attack. Quarter three finished with more goals from Jamie and George, before Norbury squeezed another in to make it 10-4.

Great credit goes to Norbury for never giving up. Well coached, their organisation pushed us throughout and their never-give-up attitude once again bore fruit in the final quarter, winning it 2-1. Jamie secured our only goal in the quarter, taking his personal tally to four, alongside his four assists.

The final whistle blew with the score 11-6. This was a thoroughly enthralling game, with the boys always having just enough in the tank to keep Norbury at bay. Their small pitch didn’t allow us to move the ball with our usual fluency, but the whole team’s resilience and adaptability shone, whilst George’s ground ball master class meant we won more scrappy skirmishes than we lost.

Cheadle in the cup semi next week will pose a different challenge, but we head to this crucial game in rude health. We go again…