This week Sporting had their final league game of the season, travelling away to face Conniburrow United FC. It was a lovely sunny Spring morning in Milton Keynes and the boys couldn’t have asked for a nicer pitch to play on.

Sporting had the better of the early play and going forward Harry was looking like Sporting’s danger man, producing a couple of turns which left the Conniburrow defenders wondering whether they were playing against Harry Houdini. From one of these skilful runs came a cross that was fizzed across the 6 yard box, which Ollie Morgan was unlucky not to connect with.

Conniburrow came into the game more as the half wore on. In the main Sporting’s back three of Lewis, Michael and Jack Wag, assisted by Joshua Goble sitting just in front, were coping with the pressure being applied. Conniburrow did still manage to get a couple of efforts in on goal, but Christopher was able to comfortably deal with them.

Having survived a period of pressure Sporting came back into the game again. Towards the end of the half Josh Green, Ollie Mitchell and Hayden provided some more attacking impetus for Sporting. Josh Green in particular was getting on the back shoulder of his marker and was unlucky on a few occasions to not quite find the finish.

The second half continued in a similar manner, a tight evenly contested game with few clear cut chances.

Sporting were looking the team more likely to score at the start of the half. Will, Josh Green, Ollie Mitchell and Harry were all getting in good positions, but just couldn’t quite find that final ball. However that changed mid way through the half. Following good work by Josh Green and Ollie Mitchell, Harry found himself through on goal. After outpacing the defence, Harry held his composure and smashed the ball into the top right corner of the net.

Conniburrow pressed hard for a goal of their own in the remainder of the game, but Sporting defended well as a team. Ollie Morgan seemed everywhere in central midfield, while Lewis was an absolute rock in central defence, winning tackle after tackle. Conniburrow had some powerful runs from deep, but each time there seemed to be a toe in, block or clearance from the likes of Michael, Lewis, Ollie Morgan, Joshua Goble, Hayden, Will or Jack Wag. And in the final minutes, just when it looked like Conniburrow finally were in on goal, Michael made an outstanding sliding tackle to save the day.

Sporting did still look dangerous on the break and had half chances of their own in the closing stages. However, they didn’t manage to add that second goal which would have made the finish a bit less stressful for the coaches and parents!

Overall, this was a really good battle between two well matched teams.

Really well played to Sporting. Superb effort and attitude from the whole team today, producing a great end to the league season. And special congratulations to Lewis, this week’s Gartec Player of the Match for a great defensive display.

Finally, as always, big thanks to today’s linesman, which was Colin.