Squad:

 

Lawrence GK

Peter

Jason ©

Paul

Ade

Danny

Patrick

Michael

Ian

 

 

 

 

This was an epic Halloween howler which was not for the faint-hearted trick or treaters!

 

 

 

On a dark, dingey, drizzly and spooky night, Bay City travelled to the sticks to play Woodchurch which we knew was going to be a tough challenge.  Knowing what to expect, we still let the opponents implement their gameplan which was a solid line through the middle of the pitch to attack and shoot at every opportunity, which left us at sixes and sevens. With 5 minutes in Woodchurch fired in a long range shot that left Lawrence with no chance of saving.

 

 

 

Bewildered by the small square pitch and the fast pace of the game, things started to get quite physical with both sides constantly committing offences, and temperatures started to rise.  As the first half went on, it seemed the odds and the referee were against us, however we somehow managed to keep our opponents from scoring for the rest of the half.

 

 

 

After a firm team talk by our out of action and sidelined captain Dave, Bay City went into the second half with a different mindset and soon started creating much more space and making our opponents work for the ball despite the continuous decisions going against us.  Five minutes into the second half saw a through ball to Ian on the edge of the box which he slid past the keeper, however it was ruled out as he had allegedly stepped into the box which was highly debatable!

 

 

 

Despite this set back Bay City kept their momentum and Jason fired in a long range shot from a difficult angle which went in having hit the underside of the cross bar.   Again the referee ruled it out but luckily Ian was on hand to put away the rebound after the confusion from Jasons long range effort.  Suddenly Woodchurch had lost all momentum which enabled two quick fire goals from Peter and suddenly Bay City were 3-1 up.

 

 

 

Tempers continued to flair which ended up with Peter getting a yellow card and 2 minutes off the pitch. With that, the tables turned and Woodchurch had pulled level before Peter could come back on. Their second goal saw the ball skid and bounce awkwardly past Lawrence, and the equaliser took a wicked deflection of Ade which sent Lawrence the wrong way.  Immediately after the restart and with only a few minutes remaining Ade and one of our opponents were given yellow cards.

 

 

 

This certainly was a tough match which could have gone either way but again Bay City have shown that they can fight back as well as learn valuable lessons from their first season in the Kent FA Walking Football League.