Harvesters go down 5 - 3 to Norsemen

Harvesters U13 East went down 5 - 3 away to Norsemen on a cold and frosty morning in Enfield.

For the 2nd week running the opposition seemed to tower over the East team but the boys rose to the challenge right from the start and never gave the opposition an inch. The constant hustling was combined with some great flowing football throughout the game.

The game was opened up mid-way through the half when Cameron Wilson won the ball on the half way line and passed backwards to Joe Burgess who lofted a great ball over the Norsemen defence. Will Walker pounced, rounded the keeper, and scored.

The goal gave the boys even more confidence that they could get a result and their energy continued to grow. The whole team was on fire through the first half. Owen O'Sullivan and Joseph Kilpatrick had the wide players in their pockets. Max Smith and Sam McKenna were awesome in the middle of the park and Niall Watson was having one of his best games pulling the opposition defence around.

The Norsemen attacks were repelled time and again but one loss of concentration left an attacker in space and Oscar was lobbed for the equalise.

But Harvesters quickly got a deserved 2nd when Sam McKenna curled in a lovely free kick from the edge of the box, this left the score 2-1 at half time.

The second half started the same way as the first one finished. Energy, enthusiasm combined with some great passing. Mahin Miah came on for his debut at right midfield and put in a very good performance. The third Harvesters goal came when James Heppenstall created some space and hit a fierce shot that was too hot for the keeper to handle.

At 3 - 1 Will Walker was on the end of a great team move and he smashed a great volley against the post. If the score had moved to 4 - 1 at that stage the points would probably have been safe.

As it turned out momentum swung the other way when a cross evaded Oscar Tansley in goal to make it 3 -2. At the same time the defence had to be rearranged as Flynn Cairns seemed to pull a muscle, and shortly afterwards Norsemen equalised.

3 - 3 probably would have been a fair result, but with about 10 minutes to go a long range free kick put the home team ahead. Harvesters still had a gilt edged chance to equalise, which they somehow missed, but all 3 points were secured for Norsemen as they struck a late 5th.

Despite the result, this was probably the boys best all round performance of the season so they should be really proud of themselves. It was great to see Alek Wegenek and Bobby Milner back after some recent injury issues. Chris Druce again put in a very commendable performance for his second game for the team.