This was always going to be a tough game. Poynton had had an impressive start to the season losing only one game so far – and that was by one goal to Stockport. Like MC Lax, they had also beaten a strong Timperley side.

With Jonathan and Brandon away, Josh Pink and Daniel Jones from Mellor’s U14s (who had no match this week) offered to help out up front.

The match started with some good early possession from MC. Thankfully, the poor handling and poor decision-making which was so much in evidence in the last game against Mersey/WACS was nowhere to be seen. This was a different team.

Poynton put together some attacks but the defence and Joe in goal, easily kept them at bay. As the quarter went on, MC’s persistence was rewarded with a goal from Dan Jones, and an even sweeter strike from Josh Pink who caught the ball in the air, spun and scored – without his feet touching the ground. The quarter ended 2:0 to MC Lax.

The second quarter continued with the same MC control and momentum, and Daniel netted his second with another close catch and shot ( 3:0 ). The team was playing with real confidence and the speed of the passes between the midis around the Poynton goal would not have been out-of-place in an U19s match. Eliot and Cameron, supported by Miles and Alex (who were winning the face-offs) were controlling the middle and the parents on the side-lines were feeling nicely relaxed.

Then Poynton managed to scrape a goal …….and then a second ……and their heads came up. They became more aggressive and some poor MC marking at the back allowed them a third goal. Poynton were back in the game and the first half finished 3:3.
Joe, who had done well in goal, handed the goalie stick to Alex and the fight continued, albeit with Poynton playing with more and more confidence and spirit. Their energy was rewarded with another goal, which put them one ahead.

In the same way Poynton were able to dig deep in the second quarter to stage a comeback, MC now showed their mettle. The defence battled and held out against determined Poynton attacks and the midis and forwards put together a series of moves and shots which narrowly missed. Josh Pink fired in a rocket which bounced off the post and flew back. Borat swore blind it had gone in and bounced off the rear post but the referees saw it differently. To help reduce his coach’s rising blood pressure, Josh Benson popped up to score a neat high goal which, unusually for him, didn’t involve crashing through three opposition defenders and slotting home a grass-cutter from a ridiculously tight angle! Anyway, not be out-done, Jo then put in a good run and fired in a low “Josh Benson special”.

End-to-end stuff followed, with both sides seeing shots just miss or saved. Both defences were fighting like crazy; and on the MC side the long “polers” ….Will, Isaac, Louis and Tom were giving (and receiving) thumping stick and body checks . They’ll all have bruises to show for it this week. Will won the prize for the most penalties which shows the level of intent being demonstrated.
In midfield, Miles was using his power and speed to carry the attack to Poynton and, with Cameron, they set up more MC attacks. The third quarter ended 4:4.

At the start of the final quarter, the breakthrough came from Dan’s stick followed shortly by an equaliser from Poynton (5:5). The battle continued. The MC defence were now winning most of the ground-ball battles and were able to keep feeding the midis. Joe, Miles, Matt and Cameron never stopped running and the result was some great passes into the forwards who netted three more goals in a 5 minute spell. Most of the goals were from Dan but the space he was given was also a result of great movement from George, Josh Benson and Josh Pink.

8 : 5 with three minutes on the clock – “game over” thought the MC parents !

Unfortunately, Poynton had other ideas and two good face-offs resulted in two quick goals. 8 : 7 with 28 seconds to go. Poynton launched another attack but great defending from MC allowed Louis to win a fiercely contested ground ball, create some space and ……(now, I’d love to be able to say “he ran 30m up the pitch and passed to Josh who scored” ….. or “he ran 50m up the pitch and wasted the final seconds running behind the Poynton goal”….. but he didn’t) ….. with the adrenaline pumping he saw red and LOBBED the ball the whole length of the pitch. This would have been fine with five seconds left, but a good team can do a lot in 15 seconds. Poynton got the ball back into MC’s half within seconds …..tick tick tick …. and to a forward who was lined up for a clear shot …..tick tick tick …. But thankfully the whistle blew (8 : 7 full time).

A really good team performance – some great passing and catching from everyone. The defenders defended, the midis controlled the play and the forwards scored goals. And the coaches coached !

Joe and Alex made some great saves in goal and their distribution after catching a shot was safe and effective (i.e. no long throws up field).

Finally, we don’t normally have a “man of the match” but this week I don’t think anyone would object to awarding a “men of the match” which goes to the two youngsters Jonesy and Pinky.

Goals from Josh Benson, Josh Pink, Joe and Dan

MC LAX played 8, lost 2, won 6