After a frosty night the sun broke through to soften a heavy muddy pitch. However, the game was on at Brook House versus their U12Bs; always a difficult and tough fixture for Ruislip Rangers. RRFC started brightly but were put on the back foot within 5 minutes when Brook House saw an opening and fired the ball past Lewis in goal. RRFC boys now knew they were in a game. They woke up and started to play some good football passing the ball intelligently around. This was despite the heavy ground, which at times hampered the final pass. Every time RRFC got the ball forward they then proceeded not to make best use of it. Hence, it was usually lost when there were options to score. When they did get the opportunities to shoot it was either hurried or without composure. The Brook House keeper did not have a lot to do.
Half-time and 1-0 down, the manager encouraged RRFC boys to keep battling and try to compose themselves a little more i.e. not be too anxious in front of goal. He indicated the chances would come if they passed the ball and helped each other. A slow start to the 2nd half as it became obvious that both teams were struggling with the heavy conditions. Brook House always threatened when they did come forward but the RRFC boys were up to the challenge and managed to repel everything. Hence, it was disappointing when a corner was not properly cleared; similar to the goal given away last time RRFC played. The Brook House boy, was on the edge of the area and had time to lash it past Lewis in goal; 2-0 down! It was important that RRFC somehow bounced back and they did so in style. Some good passing from defence to mid-field and then a ball to Harry up-front. He was one-on-one with the defender and took him on moving the ball past him on his favoured left foot. A couple of good strides and a sweet shot 10 yards out saw the goalie beaten; 2-1! Brook House kept threatening with every attack but RRFC defence stood firm and kept playing it forward to the mid-field, who began to dominate play. George passed to Reagan but a quick flag by the opposition official looked dubious when it appeared he was one-on-one with their keeper. However, RRFC plugged away and were duly rewarded when Aingaran had the time to receive the ball and compose himself to hit the ball from 12 yards to make the score 2-2. Brook House were not finished and had a couple of chances to win the game. However. it wasn’t to be as a team performance from RRFC repelled them. In fact, it was RRFC who finished the stronger and came away with a brilliant draw against a good team.
Assistant Referee: Mark Taylor
RRFC Team: (Man of the Match – The squad!) Lewis Cole Richardson (Goalkeeper) Richard Hennessy Reagan De Vere Louie Lovegrove (Captain) Kyle Pearson George Hollinrake Aingaran Selvarajah (1 goal) Adam Taylor Hugh Legood Callum O’Grady James Hersee Harry Diggins (1 goal)