Audlem FC Report

Here early on this last Sunday of July with a calm cool morning . Garden so much more silent as bird song has dropped in any volume at all. Even the bird feeders are not as popular in this month . The warm week has meant a great time for blossoms and my garden has so lovely a kaleidoscope of colour. See my rose photo alongside this report.

I noted the blackbirds in the Portuguese laurel tree being very successful at gathering a beak full of worms for the nestlings . A good sight to see .
On the way – I hope – to recovery from a horrid two weeks of severe sciatica which has knocked the stuffing out of me. I have an appointment with Phillipa in the village this coming Wednesday – a superb physiotherapist. With much hope in my heart that she can give me relief.

But.
Football.

We continue our preseason tour of games with a visit to that gem of the north- Crewe.
Playing against Leighton FC .
Our first two games of the tour have resulted in two wins- 5-2 and 11-2 , so players all buzzing with confidence .

Manager Kev Mort has again the headache of choosing the team as 18 players have reported for duty.
A good problem to have as I recall the days when we struggled to form at team of just 8 turning out . Nothing succeeds like success and right now we are truly riding high.

Referee is Darren Barnes .

All assemble at the car park of the King George playing fields – no changing facilities so strip off there in the open .

Leighton – a new team to the league today are a tougher side ,so will stretch us . We shall see.
Our super secretary, Rachel Anderson, will be my substitute on the sidelines , reporting the game as I am not fit enough yet for the rigours of the morning .

Reoort fairly limited, so just to say what happened In shorthand .

Kick off

1100
Fast and furious . No line marking at all , so cones are used to delineate the pitch as best as can be.
Very tight play for many minutes , but deadlock broken -
1150 ! We are wrong footed as they score
0-1
1204
The dam breaks as Ross Henderson , our wonder number 2, races up and scores
1-1
1223
Skipper Tom Capewell slots the ball in
2-1
Leighton are a dirty and crude team with some very dangerous tackling. One we will have to contend with in the coming months .
1227
Nick Gregory scores
3-1
1234
Leighton respond with a goal.
3-2
1237
Awarded a penalty.
Sam Mason strikes but goalie parries it away and Calum Mese races in and scores!!!
4-2
Game over .

TROPHY AWARDS

Friday night saw our end of last seasons trophy awards night and a very good time was had in the Wistaston Club .

Awards

Top Scorer . Will Cork
Top Assists. Kev Rodgers
Most improved player . Ben Walker's
Players Player . Connor Baxter
Managers Player . Ross Henderson

See my photo alongside .

David and Deborah Robertson of Windmill Drive – our most fervent supporters were there as our invitees and they again generously helped us with a donation of £100 which has bought 4 new Mitre balls for the new season .
We are pleased to also report that we now have a trained medic as part of Audlem F C management in the person of Emma Graham. A very welcome addition to the strength of Audlem FC .

Next seasons fixtures for the new season not yet announced but there are four new teams joining the CRSL And as such we will see many new faces in the games to come.

Ralph Warburton
Audlem F C