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For the opening game of the season, manager Martin picked the following team : Chris (GK), Craig (RB), Glenn (CB capt), Jason (CB), Geoff (LB), Andy (LM), Keith (CM), Mark (CM), Matt (RM), Steve (CF), Neil (CF), Rich (sub), Paul (sub), Gavin (sub).
Golden Hill started the action by kicking off facing away from the Sun with a slight breeze behind them. They began to exert their influence on the game from an early point, with the majority of the play located in Sefton Park's half of the pitch. Despite having the most possession of the ball, however, they failed to convert this advantage to the scoreline. Approaching half-time, and against the run of play, Sefton Park counter-attacked down their right hand side--lobbing a long ball over the still retreating Geoff. The shot from just inside the right hand side of the box was deflected by Chris into the centre of the penalty area, landing lose to another Sefton Park player. As Chris rallied to recover, the Sefton Park player shot on target only to have it saved on the goal line by Craig's hand. Amidst appeals from Sefton Park, the referee had no choice but to award a penalty….with Craig only receiving a yellow card. The shot was low to the left, Chris dived right--Golden Hill were losing 1-0.
Desperate to get back into the game, Golden immediately went on the offensive. Andy broke down the right hand side, and delivered a fast, low ball straight across the goal line. As Matt advanced, he managed to make contact with the ball just inches from the goal line at the back post, but the ball got trapped under his feet and was then cleared by a defender. Then, just before half time, Keith attacked down the middle of the park--with Neil to his left and Steve to his right, he lobbed from just outside the area over a defender to his left hand side. Neil ran on to the ball, with the keeper approaching, but calmly half-volleyed the ball into the back of the net with his left foot. Golden Hill were now drawing 1-1 as the referee blew for half time.
The second half saw Matt attack down the left, cross high to the back post, and Steve head into the empty net. Then as Keith challenged for the ball in the box, Neil grabbed the lose ball near the penalty spot and slotted No.2 into the bottom left, sending the keeper the wrong way. A similar tussle saw Neil thread a pass to Mark on the spot who also finished cleanly. As Andy shot from the right, the defender blocked it with his arm, but Neil attacked the ball as it bounced back up from the ground, half-volleying his hat-trick firmly into the goal sending ripples over the net. Steve was then replaced by Rich, Mark by Matt, and hamstring injured Andy by "West Ham" Gavin, as Manager Martin sought to give everyone a run-out. Neil dropped back to RM to let Gavin go CF, and as full time approached, a deflection from Geoff's shot outside the area saw the ball float in the air near the penalty spot, where Gavin swung his right foot and buried the final sixth goal into the back of the now tattered Sefton Park goal net.
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