Game week 17 v BLACKHALL MONKS REDS

Blackhall Monks

Blackhall Monks visited Rutherford today in the first meeting between the tow teams. Looking at Blackwall’s position in the table and results, they are a bit of a mystery team, they’ve won as many games as they’ve lost which isn’t too unusually in this close division but the teams they’ve beaten are usually near the top and the teams they’ve been beaten by near the bottom. The spread of goals in those fixtures is wide too which made me wonder if they have a bit of a mix bag in terms of availability and some of their stronger players aren’t always available. This was confirmed today with Blackhall missing 5 players, including their goal keeper and central midfielder, who I’d be told were very good by Cleveland Hall. Anyway, that doesn’t matter a great deal, we focus on ourselves and our players which included a rather lengthy absentee list. Aodan and Max Johnson have family commitments, Penny playing for the girls and Jacob out for the season with a broken wrist. Get well soon Jacob.

The game started in rather shaky fashion, our passing was a little off and we seemed a little slow and flat, we did force a couple of corners early on which Blackhall cut out easily and I must say were really on their game when it came to being alert at restarts. The third corner was played long and forced the first meaningful shot of the match from Sam Dixon who was playing CAM today in place of Max Johnson, a good effort from outside the box and the first goal of the game came from this restart. Rutherford won the ball back in midfield and played a series on passes on the edge of the box between Sam, James, Max and Elliott before Elliott shooting from the corner of the box, a good save from the Blackhall keep but he could only push the ball into the path of James who finished from close range. 1-0 Rutherford.

From here, Rutherford started to find their rhythm, the midfield 5 were starting to combine well and were being supplied and supported by Joe and Callum, shots from Max, Mason and Joe were all on target and well saved, the latter forcing a corner which resulted in the second goal, the ball was whipped in by Joe, right on top of the Blackhall keeper who pushed the ball into the box, a few blocked shots followed before Elliott smashed the ball into the roof of the net.

Rutherford were in the groove now and a great piece of centre forward play from Max put Joe through on goal and in my opinion brought down for a clear penalty. It wasn’t given but the football to create the opportunity was very good and a feature of both Max and Joes performance all game. A few more shots followed, from Max with a couple, Elliott and Joe, all well saved from the stand in keeper but the pressure final told when Max cut a ball back to Sam who scored his first goal for the team from just inside the box, in off the post. Another very good piece of play from Max and a great finish.

On 24 minutes Blackhall scored with their first shot of the game following a foul near our left touch line. The Blackhall number 6, probably their stand out player on the day, whipped a brilliant free kick over the wall and into the far corner. It was a lovely strike. 3-1

The next goal after conceding is always very important and thankfully it went Rutherfords way and only 2 minutes later, Amir played the ball into Callum who found Max. The ball was moved out right to Joe who took the left back on and pulled the back to Max on the edge of the 6 yard box for a simple finish and a goal his first half performance deserved. 4-1.

4-1 at half time but not before Jack made a good save low down with his feet.

Second half underway and Blackhall came out fired up and scored almost immediately following a loss of possession in our defensive third. Jack rolled the ball out to Callum but didn’t quite get the execution right, the Blackhall winger was quick to pounce and had a powerful shot which Jack saved very well, unfortunately the ball broke to a Blackhall player who scored from close range. 4-2.

As before, the next goal was going to be key and it was Rutherford who scored following good work from Max Billingham who harassed the Blackhall centre back into a mistake and once he broke through, he was unlikely to miss 1v1. A low shot into the bottom corner restored the 3 goal advantage. 5-2.

The next 10 minutes passed with Rutherford mainly on the front foot, shots from Mason, James and Max were all well saved before a left footed corners was bundled home by a retreating Blackhall defender. 6-2

Our 7th and final goal came on 53 minutes following a quick throw from Joe for Max Billingham to race away down the right wing. Max crosses a brilliant ball to the back post for James Lee who had sprinted fully 40 yards to make up the ground and once the ball arrived, James made sure of the finish. Great goal and really well done to all three players involved.

Blackhall were beaten now and had run their race. Rutherford could’ve and should’ve added to their total but good saves from Max, Joe Fenton, Mason and Joe Harvey, a couple of near misses and hitting the cross bar, again from Joe Fenton and a stonewall penalty not given the scoreline could’ve been more. Jack did produce two excellent saves in this period also, a 1v1 and a high powerful shot. It was great to see our concentration remained high and we were still willing to defend.

7-2 the final score and a great performance all round. James Lee, Joe and Sam all played fantastically well. It was great to see Sam score his first goal for the team, James work rate and goals were massive for us and Joe had barnstorming game playing 3 positions and assisting 2 goals. However, MoM of the match this week was Max Billingham, he scored 2, set up 2 and his around play, attitude, work rate and desire was brilliant. He terrorised the Blackhall defenders both in and out of possession, a superb performance and well worthy of the award.