Joint Chester & District Shield Winners 2017 is richly deserved as the boys, playing in front of 300 spectators at the Deva Stadium, put on a brilliant display and were unlucky not to win the match.
Everyone was nervous as we sat in the main stand and took in our surroundings. As we entered the pitch and warmed-up the lads settled and we talked about the need to get everyone on the ball early, winning our first tackles and settling down quickly.
As we have done in previous weeks we started brilliantly raining shots on the EP goal with William forcing a great save with a long range effort. EP had set up defensively with quick wingers but we kept our shape and were dominating possession. If anything we were snatching a little at our chances as the boys were frustrated by EPs defensive formation. Rory was working hard to find space but it was becoming clearer he needed support against three big defenders.
With EPs first attack William blocked a goal bound shot but the ball fell luckily to their striker who buried his chance to put us 0-1 down against the run of play. Switching players we did well to see out the half so that we could regroup.
Going into the second half we continued to push for the equaliser with first Fin going close. We introduced Xander after an 8-week lay off and having only trained for 45 minutes and he did brilliantly supporting Rory, Harry and Will. The boys all pushed further forward and we forced a host of corners and one goal line save which some of us thought had gone in (coach Rob running down the line like Morinho!!).
With 10 minutes to go we were awarded a free kick 10 yards out. Ellesmere Port put 4 boys in the wall, leaving only two to mark up. Instead of shooting (which we all expected) Harry brilliantly shifted the ball left for Bailey to sweep home to huge cheers from the crowd behind the goal and some very dodgy goal celebrations...
At 1-1 the game went end-to-end and was agonising to watch for everyone concerned. The final whistle went with the Rockets on top and attacking the opposition goal looking for a winner.
Overall the result meant that the Rockets and EP both ended the competition unbeaten so it was probably the right result. It was a cracking match played at a high tempo with very few fouls. All the boys played to their maximum and everyone can be proud of this achievement. We've come a long way since the first match v Nomads!
MOTM could have been any of our boys. The referee chose Rory as he felt he never stopped and worked hard to get us back into the game.
With a three tournaments to come in June lets hope we can keep playing at a high level and do well in the remaining friendly fixtures and competitions.
Well done boys. It was a great day out, a fantastic experience and a deserved first bit of silverware for the Rockets!
Rob & Paul
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