Hardwick FC VS Clare

First game back after a short Christmas break and it’s a home tie in the league and a win can see us go a point above Clare. Nathan found a spare 45 mins in the morning to paint the lines and get the pitch playable, judging by the looks of them he had 44 still to spare after. We lined up with 10 familiar faces and a new addition to the squad with striker Ben Atkinson spearheading our attack along side Dom. Clare went for an audacious attempt from Kick off which wouldn’t have troubled any keeper - you’d have thought.. Birdy did manage to adjust to an awkward bounce to keep 0-0. 10 mins gone and we had won a free kick on the edge of the opposition box just off centre. There are only 4 things guaranteed in life - Death, Taxes, Beefy pinging free kicks in to the stanch handful of times a season and we will get to the 4th later. 4 Clare players made a wall just to the right hand side of the penalty spot to try cover the left hand side of Beefy’s target. A short and confident run up and a well driven shot took the ball over the wall and dipped into the very top left to take us 1-0 up. Hardwick were winning most the battles and looked dangerous on every possession with Dom Wiz and Atko regularly beating defenders for pace. 20 mins in saw Clare with their first good chance from their left side with a shot from a angle at 5 yards but Birdy made a great save tipping the shot wide. 30 mins and the hard work payed off again, this time through a nice through ball to Dom who was on goal but decided to play Atko in. Atko had a bit of work to do to get on to the pass but after some tidy footwork managed to finish past a MIA keeper from a tight angle. Atko looked like adding to his goal very quickly from an unorthodox shot with his back to goal which was just deflected wide and a well timed run from “his own half you cheating cunt” which was wrongly flagged off side.

HT and the score was 2-0

Hardwick had a spell of trying to slow the game to frustrate Clare town who still hadn’t created many goal scoring opportunities won a corner, their second good change came from a header but was again met by Birdy with another smart reaction save pushing it to the left to be cleared safely. Hardwick were playing well with Inchy and Beefy finding passes in to the final 3rd and Ben J and Wiz’ pace which kept Clare from being able to switch to a more attacking formation. Around 68 minutes Ben played a ball through to Atko who with a well timed run and a few touches beating the keeper 1on1 finishing bottom right.
69 mins in we Opted to bring on some fresh legs to tighten up and keep possession for the final 20mins and looked to Ed to bring his years of experience and secure the 3 points.
70 mins Ed sent to the Sin Bin.
70 mins and 6 seconds. Ed straight red card. Which coincidentally is the Fourth thing guaranteed in life and his second for the season from the bench.
Hardwick worked hard to keep it 3-0 with 10 men limiting Clare to few half chances and still managing to create chances at the other end. 80 mins in a long pass from Beefy to Atko was played in which their keeper should have smothered but ended up loose for Atko to pounce on to for an easy 3rd for the day and well deserved debut hat-trick.
4-0 at full time with great performances all over the pitch but most notably Atko who took MOM and Birdy who deserves a mention also.