Horton View passed an early morning pitch inspection for the fixture against Darlaston Town this Saturday morning. Despite the almost persistent rain this week the pitch had held up pretty well. It was a bit boggy and squelchy in places, but I have played on far worse in my time! Before kick off both teams were separated by just three points, so it was set to be another closely contested match following successive matches against first and second placed teams in the league.

We altered formation for todays game, moving to a back three, two holding midfielders, and two CAMs or 10's in support of one striker. The message was today that we wanted to play aggressively, press hard and high, and really get at the Darlaston defence early. A much more attacking outlook to the previous two weeks where emphasis was on shape, being solid and difficult to play through.

We did start the game strongly, and were creating all the opportunities in the first section of the match. Ollie E had a couple of chances from corners, the first a volley that bounced wide, then the second a chance that looked like it was going in, Fin's shot was towards goal, the keeper fumbled and Ollie E stabbed goalwards only for a defender to clear to safety.

Tyra and Fin were caught offside on a couple of occasions, as the linesman's flag seemed to be raised early - hard to tell from where we were if the calls were tight. We continued to press for the opening goal though. A lovely throughball from Tyra was played through to Fin on the left wing, he cut in onto his right foot and curled an effort just wide of the post.

We were creating some really good opportunities, and if our touch wasn't a little heavy or the final ball misplaced we could of been in on goal many more times. Our next effort came from another corner, just as last week Zach flicked a lovely glancing header towards goal, it beat the keeper but didnt get past the defender on the goal line. At this point it was looking like the goal was never going to come.

However on 35 minutes, we finally made the breakthrough. Toby got himself into a pocket of space midway into the Darlaston half, he wriggled past a strong challenge, and played a lovely pass through to Tyra, he took a touch and then guided a great finish into the bottom corner of the net 1-0 and a deserved lead.

Darlaston for their part rarely threatened, the defence had made some good decisive clearances and tackles, and Nathan had been quick off his line to deal with any danger.

We started the second half strongly again, and the critical second goal arrived on 45 minutes. We pressed high onto the Darlaston defence, which led to Ollie E nicking the ball midway inside the half, he strode forward towards the box before finding Will in space inside the penalty area. Will took a touch and arrowed the ball into the bottom corner out of reach of the keepers outstretched arm. 2-0.

We didnt have to wait long for the third goal. Ollie E getting a quickfire double of assists. Will held the ball up nicely before find Ollie E who played a nice through ball to Lewis. Lewis got in front of his man, powered into the box and struck a low drive under the keeper and into the near post for 3-0. A lovely well worked goal.

In truth the game became a bit scrappy after this. We lost a little bit of cohesion in our play, and we were indebted to Nathan for making three really good saves to preserve our clean sheet. The pick of which was when the Darlaston number 7 was through on goal one on one, but Nathan made himself big and pulled off a great save with his leg to deny the striker.

Ollie C had an excellent chance to add to the scoreline, but his header from a corner was just wide of the post. The last ten minutes were pretty uneventful, the game ending on a slightly sour note, with what looked a nasty injury for a Darlaston player. Our best wishes of course go to him, and hopefully the diagnosis is not a serious one.

An impressive performance and a good three points for the team, who have performed well over the last few weeks in some tough fixtures. Next up is another home game against Droitwich on 3rd December.

Full Time
Banbury United U16s 3 Darlaston Town U16s 0
Goals - Tyra, Will, Lewis
Assists - Toby, Ollie E 2
MOTM - Ollie E