Oldbury Park Tigers Siberians VS Colts (07/03/20)

After a 4-week weather-enforced hiatus, Colts returned to action against an Oldbury Park Tigers team that they’d previously bettered in the first round of the cup in early December. Neel Park was the venue after the Bromwich Road pitch was considered predictably unplayable, so with a backdrop of the glamorous tenpin bowling delivery yard, Colts got their spring campaign underway on a mild bright morning. With a few absentees, the boys lined up with just the two substitutes. Cam started in Goal with Olli, Dylan and Caleb at the back, Nathan and Conner in the middle, Reggie and Josh wide and Louis up front. Harry and new signing James started from the bench.
Any perceived signs of rustiness were soon dispelled as Colts started in a bright and positive manner, on the front foot and causing the Tigers defence problems from the start. Nathan seemed to be enjoying his new central role and linked up well with Louis in the early exchanges. Josh was another to perform well in the opening period and the Tigers keeper was forced into several sharp stops even before the coffees had turned up from the nearby health centre. Any foray into the Colts half by the home team were dealt with comfortably by the back three; Dyl and Olli playing with their usual combative spirit and Caleb looking comfortable after being restored to defence.
It didn’t take long for Colts to open up the Tigers defence and draw first blood; after some sustained pressure Louis received the ball on the edge of the area and drilled a shot goal-wards; some frantic defending saw the ball scooped out as far as Nathan who rifled the ball back towards the net, only to be denied by a class piece of goalkeeping. Unfortunately for the Tigers No. 1, he could only direct the ball towards a grateful Louis who slotted the ball home. Within minutes the ball was in the net again, Reggie and Nathan exchanging passes on the left wing before Nathan scored his first goal of the season with a lovely finish from range past the despairing dive of the keeper. Colts continued to press and could have found themselves even further ahead at the break were it not for some impressive keeping from the Tigers stopper.
As it was, they found themselves only 1-goal to the good as some uncharacteristic hesitancy at the back saw Tigers claw a goal back just before the end of the first half, Cam unable to tip the ball wide despite his best efforts. The coffee eventually arrived and the last 10 minutes of the first half was a real tussle with both sides looking to add to their tally.
The start of the second half saw a resurgent Tigers team race out of the blocks and apply some real pressure. With the Colts switching to a 3-3-2 with the introduction of Harry to partner Louis and debutant James joining the fray in place of Reggie, the additional space in the middle of the park suited the Tigers and they started to get forward in numbers. Olli was forced to use his strength on numerous occasions (sometimes legally, sometimes not so!) and Dylan also had a tremendous battle for the first 10 minutes of the second period. Caleb looked unflustered, and along with the in-form Cam, the defensive rear-guard looked to be soaking up everything thrown at them. Conner was being forced to drop deeper to provide extra manpower and also made some important last-ditch challenges as Colts became more and more stretched. Louis was then dropped back into midfield to provide ball-winning capability, but it was only with the reintroduction of Reggie and Nathan that the balance and shape seemed to return to the team. James dropped back into his favoured defensive role and immediately looked more comfortable and the livewire Nathan provided some crucial link-up play with Josh and Harry; Colts immediately looked a threat and made their renewed vigour count when Josh curled in an exquisite free-kick off of the underside of the bar. Tigers weren’t done, however and made life uncomfortable almost immediately by closing the gap to a single goal with a well worked move. With the home team still posing a threat and with legs starting to tire, the game opened up into an end-to-end affair with plenty of fingernails being gnawed as the game raced towards its frenetic conclusion. Conner turned in an outstanding late display, winning ball after ball in front of the defence to snuff out pretty much all of the Tigers attacking endeavour. Harry started to pose a real threat in attack with both Reggie and Nathan supplying wide support, however the Tigers too looked like they could provide a sting in the tail. It always felt like Colts would need a cushion, and this was indeed provided with less than 5 minutes remaining. A sweet move down the left after the ball was won at the back by James saw Reggie swing a tantalising cross square across the box. Avoiding everyone, the ball was picked up at the back post by a well-positioned Nathan who slotted home neatly to complete a well-crafted passage of play and cap a hard-working display against a decent team. Colts can be happy that, for the most part they looked sharp even after an extended lay-off, and that they were also made to work hard for the result which will set them up well for the upcoming challenges.