Report

On a rare pleasant Summer evening Eckington found themselves playing an away game at home due to a waterlogged pitch at Welford.
 
The Eagles hit the ground running and scored their first goal after 5 minutes when a shot from Sophie was well saved by the Welford keeper only for Thomas to coolly slot in the rebound.
 
Eckington then enjoyed a long spell of possession which culminated in an excellent run from Oliver whose clever through ball found Sophie who cleverly lost her marker and faced by the onrushing goal-keeper she made no mistake when placing the ball calmly in to the net.
 
With no further scoring the Eagles enjoyed their half-time break with what looked a comfortable 2 nil lead.
 
The second half began with Welford raising their game and only some strong tackling and rear-guard action, particularly from Simon, William and James D, led by example by captain for the day Stanley, kept the Eagles lead in tact.
 
Gradually Eckington got on top once more so it came as no surprise when Sophie extended the lead to 3 nil, again pouncing on a rebound after Simon’s shot had come back off the Welford keeper.
 
A few moments later a goal mouth scramble saw the Eagles players and fans claim the ball had crossed the Welford goal line but with the fading light and lack of goal line technology to hand the referee ignored their shouts! He did however award a direct free –kick to Eckington moments later but Joel was out of luck as his tremendously struck shot hit the underside of the Welford crossbar, bounced down on to the inside of the post, on to the goal line, only to be hacked clear by a Welford defender.
 
Welford continued to show great spirit and kept pressing forward and would undoubtedly have registered on the scoring charts had Matthew Lockwood in the Eagles goal not made an excellent diving save to deny their centre forward when it seemed certain he would score.
 
Continued solid defending from all of the Eagles team then saw the game out to register a 3 nil victory.
 
Man of the Match award went to Stanley Simpson who ran his socks off, kept on tackling, almost scored with a volley, and led his team in a very professional and courteous manner. Well done Stanley.
 
But all the Eagles players should be proud of their efforts this year as this game rounded off what has been an excellent season from both a performance and a results perspective, with the team finally finishing an excellent 4th in the league. A big “Well done” to all of you.