7's Tough It Out

The November dark fell quickly for the first time at Huntington as York 7ths faced Leodis Leeds. A fine Ali Birchesque mizzle obscured the light further, but the 7ths had no need to think of the great man in the adjectival, he was there in person to bolster the York midfield. The pre match briefing was well informed by intel gleaned from the 6ths narrow win against the same side last week. The team knew that they had their work cut out for them.

The starting whistle blew and York pushed back with 9 men on the field, confident that the cavalryman would come galloping on soon, accompanied by Sam Moore. York played the ball around comfortably in midfield in the first few minutes but were rather hesitant in going beyond the oppositions 23. They waited to see what the rumoured pace attack of Leodis might look like, but a well briefed defence of the two McCleans, Moore and their captain blocked off the attacking options allowing the ball to be picked off in midfield where Ali Birch then engineered counter attacks, which began to get over the 23 and pressure the opposition D.

This good pressure forced Leodis further back, but despite a more loaded defence, York’s quick and patient movement of the ball around the pitch meant there was little respite for Leodis. Cries of “attack the post” from Moore caused some sympathy for said post amongst the spectators, whom couldn’t develop the same aggression towards the metal work of the goal, but the call was eventually understood by York’s front line as Tom Feetenby did indeed charged the far post. He did so just as yet another hard cross entered the D and the desired deflection rocketed pleasingly into the back of the net. 1-0!

York continued to use and keep possession well, Rufus Wordsworth making his 7th team debut showing some deft touches in the opposition 23, Finn Baqai and Emil Waites pace was tempered by good decision making to move the ball back out of trouble when their progress might have been blocked by a defence who all knew how to tackle. Malc Cossey and Aaron Clements were always there to provide such outlets, as indeed were the rotating left and right backs of the McCleans and Josh Perryman. It was only a matter of time before penetrations into the D was again rewarded when Allo (Big) finished well for York’s 2nd. Emil Waites finished another to make it 3-0 at half time.

Haribo and oranges (choclate) were quickly produced. Had no oranges been produced there could have been trouble from Birch, but as it was he was happy to urge the team onwards for the 2nd half. Captain Perryman reminded the 7ths that relaxing against a side that had run the 6ths close, scoring 4 goals would be folly.

In general York heeded the advice, only losing shape a couple of times to individually skilled attacks from the Leodis main midfield play maker. As the half went on Douglas Duffus-Hodgsen was required to make a number of fine saves. A couple of, close call, short corners were awarded, but Leodis only managed to pull one goal back, keeper Doug made a fine initial save and the second shot but eventually Leeds managed to force the ball over the line. Generally Leodis were denied the chance to capitalise on these moments of pressure by excellent defensive teamwork from York, the defence slowing attacks down enough to allow the covering midfield time to get back and join the hunt for possession. One excellent example being demonstrated by a great steal by Jamie Clarke, that once again put York on the front foot to resume attack.
The mizzle mentioned earlier, along with the pace of some of the play meant that the umpires had quite a job on their hands. At one point, time was stopped while the umpires conferred and took evidence from witnesses to establish if a short corner effort from York that resulted in a ball connecting with the backboard should be deemed legal. It was deemed the services of the Supreme Court were not required on this occasion and both teams accepted a 16! However, in no time at all another well worked attack by York resulted in a 2nd goal from the tireless Emil Waites.
In the dying moments of the game, the umpires again took evidence, this time getting out the tape measure to analyse the height of the rapidly swelling bruise on Sam Moore’s knee, sustained during a shot from a short corner. The distance from ground level was deemed high enough and Sam limped off while York took the resulting free hit.

The cavalryman charged towards the dressing room and a night out in York a happy man proclaiming that he was fully content with an excellent team performance, although he may not have noticed the strong correlation between York’s winning ways and the appearance of haribo and choclate oranges.