On a cold afternoon Slazenger 3’s latest fixture was away at Scunthorpe against Brigg Men’s 4th team. Despite a few absences due to injury and unavailability Slazengers started the match
with a good tempo and immediately took the game by the scruff of the neck. Time and again the midfield of Dan Levitt and Anwar Al-Khaili were instrumental in snuffing out any danger and starting attacks of their own.
It was captain for the day Luke Gueli who broke the deadlock against a slightly disorganised Brigg defence, scoring with a deft touch. He was involved again when a surging run into the opposition was only partially dealt with and winger Danny Moakes swept the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
By now Brigg struggled to contain the opposition who were almost rampant in their attacks. Half backs Alex Calderley and Simon Taylor were allowed the opportunity to make surging runs down the flanks to initiate further attacks.
Credit to the opposition they remained a threat and their forwards kept the Slazenger central defence of James Higgins and Mark Kitchen honest with 2 or 3 dangerous break aways.
That said Luke Gueli added a further 3 goals and striker Byron Dean added a brace of his own to make the half time score 7-0 to the Horbury team.
The match was a classic game of 2 halves for the Brigg keeper. As vulnerable as he had looked in the first half he was almost unbeatable in the second half. Despite being camped in the opposition half Slazenger’s simply couldn’t find a way past him. The Horbury team were all keen to get on the scoresheet and tried to force the pace rather than just playing the simple passing game that had brought them success in the first half. At one point it resembled a duel as forward Byron Dean sought his hat-trick goal and the opposition keeper was determined to prevent it, even saving a penalty flick.
This over commitment of players was the reason Brigg were able to score a conciliation goal late in the game. That said it was good to see Slazengers respond immediately with the best move of the half when the ball went out wide, then a quick interchange of passes resulted with Dan Levitt having time and space, in an otherwise crowded penalty area, for a successful shot on goal.
Final score 8-1.