Peterborough 5s vs M3s 11:30AM, 23/9/23

Coming off the back of a 9-0 win, the M3 lads were rearing to push a historically weak Peterborough 5s in to the ground; even more so, having comfortably won 4 of the previous encounters with the well acquainted counterparts.

However, this would not prove to be the case. 

A young, yet well drilled team awaited us at Bretton Gate, who struck early from a top D reverse shot within the first few minutes to put us on the back foot. Soon followed another, leaving us 2 behind very early on. This was not at all how we expected the game to start. However, if life has taught us anything, it isn’t about which events befall us, but in which manner we react to these upsets. We tightened the ship, changed a few personnel around in different positions, and we saw the 1st half out, having missed a few good chances for ourselves, with George A taking an awakened, mature approach to controlling the midfield, and releasing some bomber aerials in to their D whenever the chance arose. 

Proving his commitment to the cause, Charlie aka McLovin was caught getting low for a tackle, only to be clattered in to, leaving him with whiplash. At the half-time interval, the hero spectator Andy accompanied the brave lad to A&E, only to be told after 2 hours that he was fine. He is indeed tougher than we all imagined. Hardy, even. In fact, there are rumours that he could take on anyone in the club if ever the need arose. His words, not mine. Or perhaps it was the potential concussion talking.

Our half time analysis was very positive, as we identified their strengths and weaknesses, leading us to avoid playing the ball anywhere near their CB or CM who were very strong on the day, and dropping the press, to counter their use of the width. 

The second half, we decidedly had the better chances, with Ash turning on a six-pence in the D, to only shoot a whisker wide of the post. We had multiple short corners, but the pitch was so slow, and their runners were annoyingly rapid, quashing our usual routines without much fuss. 

During their odd attack, Captain Adam led by example, as he and Annsy covered several overloaded counter-attacks. Jack K was immense in closing down all but one of their short corners as the 1st runner. This particular short was a solo effort from top D, where their CM (rumour has it, a 1st XI player who is “returning from injury”) delicately dribbled through our defense and flicked it top bins from the P-spot. Sometimes, you just have to admire the effort, even if it is against you. 

At 3-0, the final whistle blew, leading us to contemplate the result in the light of our expectations. Hats off to Peterborough, they were a pleasant team to play against. They really have a good thing going: the way they have improved over the summer is phenomenal, and I predict they’ll do very well indeed this season.