On a freezing Tuesday evening as the perishing northern wind lashed across the pitch, Malet Lambert Year 7’s welcomed their rivals from Hessle to play in the first round of the Humberside Cup.
After a recent match in the National Cup it was all to play for in the awful conditions. Malet kicked off and both teams were straight in trying to not think about the terrible weather. After about 10 minutes, Malet found their feet and were keeping possession.
It was Malet who shot first and with an astonishing goalkeeper for Hessle it was still all to play for. It was end to end, shot after shot and save after save. Malet still had most of the possession but Hessle’s goalkeeper was in absolutely amazing form.
Then a corner for Malet and both centre backs Harrison (captain) and Ben went up. As Harrison went in the box, Ben stayed on the edge. A corner delivered by Owen saw it be cleared by Hessle, but only as far as Ben who, with one touch, stroke a thunderous volley.
It looked to be going into the top corner only for the Hessle keeper to make an exquisite diving save and clip it on to the bar. Everybody was shocked but Ben had to get on with it and run back. Then at the other end, Ben was sprinting back and made a fantastic slide tackle to send the ball out for a corner.
Unfortunately, he injured his leg in the process and had to come off the pitch. Then half time struck and it was still 0-0.
With a very encouraging half time team talk from their coach, Mr Thornham, we were back to where we left off.
After many more unbelievable saves by the Hessle goalkeeper (including a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-triple save), a corner was given. A flick on from Luke saw the ball travel to the back post were Owen was unmarked and half-volleyed the ball home from four yards - the keeper was no were near.
Then straight away from the kick-off, Nathan received the ball out on the left wing and charged in taking on three players with his blistering pace and fired a low hard shot into the bottom left corner.
It looked to be all over for Hessle by now, with the conditions getting worse, but they didn’t go down easy.
At Malet’s end, the ball flew out by about four yards and what should have been a goal kick was given a corner.
Malet players were furious but it was about to get a lot worse when the corner led to Hessle getting a goal back.
It was just like Owen’s goal except the Hessle striker only had to header in from about one yard (a goal that should have been given offside).
Malet didn’t take that easily. From the kick-off, some clever passing from Luke, Owen and Jacob, saw Jacob one on one with the goal keeper and he slotted a magnanimous right footed strike low into the bottom right hand corner.
3-1. Now it looked more than over for Hessle but they disagreed. With about 10 minutes remaining, Hessle charged forward again and with another dreadful corner given, it happened again.
Hessle charged back as Malet re-grouped and kept their heads. With now only 5 minutes remaining, Malet just passed the ball about and then the whistle blew. A big relief for Malet, but a big blow for Hessle.
So, on Malet go to the next round of the Cup, and Hessle go home a bit disheartened. They should keep their heads held high, they gave Malet a good run for their money.