SMJFL - Division 1 - Under 15's Sunday 28th March 2004 Venue: Home

Hazel Grove U 15's	7 - 0	New Mills
E Clegg(5), L Sissions, A Miles

In our final home league match of this season the boys started and finished the game with 10 men due to a mixture if injuries and disciplinary problems. And what a terrific way to complete our home fixture list this game turned out to be.

Grove were in command right from the beginning of this game stringing some lovely passes about and putting pressure on the visitors. The first goal came from a New Mills corner when the ball was cleared to Eric on the halfway after five minutes. Eric moved speedily down the left wing outpacing the defenders and fired a strong low shot into the net from 18 yards. Ten minutes later and Grove were two up. Gary H won the ball in the middle of the park before playing a perfect pass down the right wing to Luke who beat the full back and sent a terrific cross into the middle where Eric rose above the defence to head home his second. New Mills it must be said didn’t lie down. They came fighting back strongly forcing several corners but always found themselves second best to the Grove back three. There were many other scoring opportunities in the half and Eric could easily have had at least another 3 goals but the first period finished 2 nil.

From the start of the second half and for the first 20 minutes we saw a competitive game between full strength New Mills and 10 man Grove. The pace however was beginning to show on one or two lads but Grove still played the better quality football and despite enjoying some good possession New Mills were never able to penetrate the Grove Defence or to trouble Matt in goal. In fact one spectator (Julie) asked Matt if he wanted a newspaper to read to keep himself busy. With 20 minutes to play Gary H won the ball inside his own half and again sent the ball down field to Luke who quickly sent Eric on a run into the penalty area. Eric, who by now could have scored 10 goals, took his time before slotting the ball behind the keeper for number three. Grove’s ten men now picked their game up and turned on the style. After the ball broke to Babba from a corner he played a fine pass infield where Luke screamed "get outta the way ref" before hammering home a fine shot from 20 yards. Andy Nick then played a fine ball down the middle where Eric again was sent into the penalty area this time from Luke’s head and he tapped in his 4th of the game. A few minutes later Eric scored his 5th hitting a curling shot off the post and into the net from 12 yards. The final goal came from Andy Miles who chested down a fine pass from Eric before tapping the ball past the approaching keeper to score his first goal in 3 years.

All in all this game showed what terrific team spirit and determination the boys have to try and retain their title. A brilliant display from all.

(Match reporter: Rob Hawthorne)