A win for the Vikings

It was a bright sunny spring day as City of York Vikings made their way up to Leeds Adel for an eagerly anticipated match. York had pushback and started off strongly by regularly getting themselves into Adel's half of the pitch whilst keeping possession effectively. However, Adel looked like they were ready to have a good game and looked strong on the break, creating numerous chances. However, the central defence of Jess and Wallis stood firm and, when breached, Duncan was more than a match for whatever Adel could throw at him. This then gave the Vikings motivation as the ball travelled up from the defence to the midfield where Murphy, Izzy R and Catherine were ready to react to the play. Moments later the ball travelled all the way up to Willo who had Izzy G and Fern either side for assistance if needed. But Willo kept driving forwards until he was left with a one on one with the keeper. After the first attempt was parried by the keeper, Willo deftly flicked the ball gracefully over the keeper to put York 1-0 up. Moments later though, a green card was shown for Murphy as he was said to have tripped the player over in the Umpires opinion. Even though York (especially Murphy) thought that the Adel player tripped over his leg and made a big fuss out of it. Minutes after, the whistle blew for halftime with the York Vikings happy to catch their breath.

The second half went underway as Adel gained possession again and held onto the ball for long periods and even when York cleared their lines Adel kept coming back. Duncan was becoming hoarse with all the shouting. More and more chances were being created but Duncan kept making save after save and was determined not to let Adel go 1-1 with York. Leeds we're starting to get frustrated as their sustained pressure yielded nothing. When allowed, York transferred the ball very effectively especially with Tony playing a key role at the bottom of the diamond, who kept on receiving the ball that Adel had lost and delivered the ball back up to the midfield to give York some more chances. This then lead to the midfield passing the ball up the pitch to the attackers. Suddenly with of a couple of accurate passes, the Vikings found themselves in Adel's D when out of nowhere, Alex received a pass coming across the D and gave the ball a ferocious hit which flew straight pass the keeper into the bottom left corner of the goal. The score was now York City Vikings 2-0 Leeds Adel. York now relaxed slightly but not for long. Adel launched some ferocious attacks down the left and right wing. Benjy and Dougie were not messing about though, as they were able to clear their attacks with power that came in which allowed York to settle back into their positions. With 6 mins left, Adel finally got a reward for their pressure by beating Duncan to make the score 2-1. Not much time was left and all York we're concentrating on was to keep the ball out of their half and not let Adel have any more chances. The ball was then hit powerfully up into Adel's half which moments later the whistle went for full time. Ending with York City Vikings 2-1 Leeds Adel.

Honourable mentions:

Man of the Match: Duncan Mortimer = Put a magnificent shift in today and gave the Vikings belief in the game to go on and win the match.

Dick of the Day:
Murphy Riddell = for receiving a green card and several other reasons, most of them unjustified.

Well played today guys, had a really good battle out there and bring on the next round.