Neston Beavers 0 South Cheshire Beavers (?) 2

Following the excellent awards evening (many thanks to Richard and Tony for organising) we entertained possibly the largest Beaver team in the North West. We had lost to South Cheshire 8-0 back in October and it would be a good test of the progress made during the season.
Alex Davies was presented with his "Most Improved Beaver" Award before the game, joining Max Dutton, "Player of the Season", James Fennah "Players Player" and Scott Barry/Ben Crane "Top Scorers" as our award winners.
The game started in spring sunshine and our oversize/age visitors were soon on the attack winning a number of short corners. Just as it looked that the defence of Alex Davies, Peter Harrison, Chris James, Max Dutton and Alex Greenhalf had seen off the onslaught a poorly cleared cross led to a goal. The rest of the half was largely played in the Cheshire half with Sam Dewey, Tom Honeybourne, Syd Roberts and Charlie Palin working well to get the ball into the opposition D. An excellent through ball from Sam found Scott Barry in space but he could not get a shot on target. A few short corners were won but we could not get the ball past their keeper. A rare Cheshire attack led to a lifted free hit into the D that luckily the opposition umpire spotted and a disallowed the goal. Jon Lord again came on and dribbbled past the Cheshire defence winning a number of free hits and shorts.
1-0 down at halftime and all to play for. Neston were soon on the attack with some neat passing leading to Greg Hughes finding space on the left and passing to James Knight who could not beat the keeper. More attacking down both flanks led to a good chance for Ben Crane and another shot against the post. The defence of Charles McCulloch, Greg Chester, James Chester, Charlie Palin and Max Dutton were dealing well with any Cheshire counter attacks. Arthur Bush, Harry Sanguinetti and George Roberts contributed in the second half. As time ran out a Cheshire short corner was deflected home to give the visitors a flattering 2-0 win.
An excellent performance in all areas apart from shooting, after averaging four goals a game over the last month we failed to get good shots on goal when well placed. Everyone commented on the improvement shown since the last game and a win would not have flattered us.
Thankyou to Tony Bush and Tim Brooker for umpiring and the large number of supporters.
Men of the match - the team for a very positive performance!
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to a very enjoyable season, all the parents who helped with the transport, the supporters and lastly the boys and girls who played making it all worthwhile - well done!!! Thankyou for the bottles of wine!