GAME Week 11 v WHITBURN PANTHERS (H)

Two games in succession is somewhat of a novelty this season as was the sunshine. Mystic Shaun said that spring is finally here and he's in shorts for the rest of the season, good luck to him and I hope he's right.

On to the game, it was an unchanged side partly due to a few players being unavailable (Penny, Amir and Aodan) and partly due to how well a few players played in the previous fixture. The formation was the same too, although Shaun and I had toyed with playing a slightly more attacking formation from the start but we decided to stick the formation that we know and trust and I'm glad we did as Whitburn are a far far better team than their league position and results would suggest.

Rutherford and Whitburn are quite alike I think, both teams try to play football, using combination passes like 1-2's and the ball was on the floor more often than not, it was a good game to watch (hopefully the Veo recording backs that up, if it recorded at all). Whitburn played a high defensive line, right on the half way line, at it wasn't long before Max Billingham was in behind and running through on goal, on this occasion he was adjudged offside but we told him to keep making the runs and he would eventually time one right and we would be in on goal. This proved to the case a few minutes later when Max Johnson played Max Billingham in for the opening goal, a very good finish when running though, lifting the ball beyond the keeper as he rushed out to make a block. 1-0 Rutherford and a fair score on the balance of play. Whitburn came back strong and had some chances, 2 shots when wide of left and right post respectively and then Jack made a great save from a corner, the ball dropped in the 6 yard box and a Whitburn player got to the ball first, toeing the ball goal bound only for Jack to save with his legs and smoother the shot. Excellent, brave goalkeeping.

Then Rutherford doubled their lead with a real collectors item, a long range shot from Mason Porter which screamed into the net, as clean as a whistle from outside the area. A lovely goal and no more than Mason's recent performances have deserved.

A change of personal and more importantly shape let Whitburn back into the game as they scored to make the game 2-1. Going to a 1-3-3-2 formation didn't really work and we lost the middle of the pitch so at half time we reverted to 1-3-1-3-1 and we looked far more solid and able to control the centre ground.

2-1 at half time.

Back to our usual shape and on the front foot making the game 3-1 with the Max double act coming up trumps again, Max Billingham to Max Johnson who scored a well taken goal.

Whitburn wouldn't lie down however and they scored a long range goal of their own to make the game 3-2 before Max Johnson scored the goal of the game. The ball was put through and half cleared by the Whitburn defender rather than leaving the ball to run through to the keeper, the ball went to half way line and about 10 yards inside the Whitburn half, Max Johnson ran on to the ball and took heed of the shouts to "shoot!". Max struck the ball towards goal, the ball bounced, hit the post and rebounded back off the goalkeeper and I. A great strike and brilliant effort.

Whitburn again came back and scored a 3rd to make the game 4-3 but finally the game was made safe when James Lee played in Max Billingham to score his second, Rutherfords 5th and make the game safe.

5-3 the final score.

Some really good performances today, Jack in goal made some good saves and came out to clear a few through balls. Notable saves came from a corner and free kick which was tipped on to the bar. James Lee really put in a shift on the left despite having a cold all week, Mason was strong protecting the back 3 and moving the ball forward accurately. The whole back 3 (4 players in total) played very well, covered each other, blocked shots and started a lot of attacks.

The two stand out players however were Max and Max. Both brilliant on the ball, both worked incredibly hard, both a threat in behind defences, both combined with their team mate and both scored two goals. It's a flip of the coin on who was Man of the Match, but for the long range effort and goal, I think Max Johnson just about wins the award. Very Very close, two brilliant performances.