Year 3 vs Coombe Dingle, 28th March

Year Three were back on the Downs for the first time in, oh, ages and it was reassuring to feel the familiar northerly wind and the patter of hail on our heads.

For the first time in, oh, ages the Year Threes were unable to field two squads from our boys alone. A trip to Egypt, a Beaver fun-day-away-day-activity-day day and some undisclosed ailments left the boys a few players short. Without much disruption we brought some of our tournament-winning girls in and it was great to see them play - indeed Sophie Mc, Emily T, Anna D and Bryony were among our best players overall.

Anyway, if last week against Bishop Road was a game too far then this set of fixtures, for one of the squads at least, was one even further. Two equal squads, two very different sets of performances. The coaches could only look on in horror at a 3-1 defeat swiftly followed by another, this time 5-0. Jack Clarke took his goal well but the boys didn't really seem that bothered about anything much apart from arguing amongst themselves. Hopefully the Easter break will settle some of the team down.

The other squad, however, did the Foxes proud. 2-0 down against a strong Coombe Dingle side could have turned into much worse but a great fight-back with goals from Omar and Raul earned a well deserves draw. The second game also ended 2-2. it was end to end stuff, the Foxes passing well, tackling hard and showing some good individual touches. An early goal from Raul couldn't stop us trailing 2-1 into the final seconds. Bizarrely, the Coombe Dingle keeper came up for a corner and Nick, having won the ball and spotting an empty net, coolly struck the ball three-quarters of the length of the pitch to score, despite a desperate dive by the retreating keeper. A very exciting finish to a great game that showed that we can play decent football and compete with good sides, which Coombe Dingle undoubtedly are.

Players of the week Sophie Mc and Sonny.