Urmston Beavers 2 Neston Beavers 1

Neston travelled to Urmston on the outskirts of Manchester for the return fixture, Urmston having won 4-0 at Neston. With eight of the Neston team having played in the first game it was a good opportunity to measure the progress that has been made in the last couple of months.
Neston started the game well and were pushing the ball around in midfield with Chris Hall and Tom Honeybourne linking up well with Syd Roberts and Ben Crane on the right. A through ball saw James Knight get into the circle and narrowly miss. Another cross from the right saw a sharp shot from Ben Crane saved. Urmston broke away and a through ball was missed by the defence and the Urmston forward beat Alex Davies. Neston looked for an equaliser and James Fennah and Ben Crane nearly found the goal. Urmston again broke away and won a short corner, the shot was defelcted home of a Neston stick. 2-0 at half time slightly flattered the home side.
The second half started with Neston on the attack and a sharp shot from James Knight was saved high to the goalkeepers right. A couple of short corners followed with shots missing the goal. An attack up the middle found Ben Crane who found James Knight on his right, James moved into the D and beat the keeper with a low shot. More Neston attacks followed and a Syd Roberts cross was nearly pushed home by Ben Crane. Ben then got away in the middle forcing the keeper to come out and dive at his feet to get the ball away. In the last ten minutes good defending from Max Dutton, Greg Chester, Tom Fisher and James Chester kept Urmston out, when they got shots on goal Alex Davies saved well. The game finished 2-1 to Urmston, with the large number of parents watching all commenting on what a good competitive game had been played, with a high level of skill shown by players on both sides.
A really good perfomance from the whole team, showing how much everyone has come on, improving their game over the last few weeks, we can look forward to more competitive matches in the New Year.
Men of the match Max Dutton for an excellent job organising the defence and Chris Hall for a hard working game in midfield.
Our next match is away to Oxton, starting at 3.45 on 6th January.
Happy Christmas
Peter