A change of venue for the Ajax this morning as they hosted good friends and rivals Stewkley at Linslade Middle School in what was the Linslade sides last ever game of 9v9 football!

Only the one player missing today as Dylan (illness) was unable to join his teammates in today’s squad.

Every game between these two sides has been a close affair and today was to prove no different as the visitors, attacking down the hill put pressure on the Ajax goal from the get go. Only some last ditch tackles from Little Seb, Luke and Thomas and some solid goalkeeping from Ethan maintaining parity.

The first real chance however did fall to the home team when a typical bursting run from Joe put him through on goal however his shot cannoned against the post and Stewkley managed to clear.

Stewkley took the lead on 15 minutes though when a well worked corner was smashed home from close range. Galaxy had an uphill challenge (literally) to get back into this game.

That battled on though and some tenacious work from Foxy found Joe in space who squared to Finn who was unlucky to see his effort crash off of the crossbar. Ajax were starting to get a foothold into the game with Maddy and George upping the work rate from the wings with Cole and Noah providing some assured defending in the full back roles. William was starting to get in the way of everything at CDM and Harry was starting to get his foot on the ball!

It was starting to click but that vital clinical touch was still absent.

Half Time : Ajax 0 – 1 Stewkley

Half time team talk done, and with the players having freshly dried hair(!), the second half began and the capacity 50+ crowd were treated to the Ajax they all know and love. With Stewkley having plenty of pace in the forward roles, they resorted to playing a more direct form of the game, but this was no problem for the colossuses of Sebs (little and large) and Thomas at the back who were first to everything. When the ball did evade them, Ethan marshalled his area well to mop up any danger.

A game full of effort but lacking in a bit of class was changed in an instant as the move of the match levelled it up on 37 minutes. Finn, Harry and Maddy were involved in the build up which saw the ball go wide to Joe who whipped the ball towards to back post. The ball fell to Noah who’s sublime first touch beat his marker before he smashed the ball home on the half volley. A GREAT GOAL!

This goal really put the already promoted Galaxy on the ascendancy and it was now a case of attack, attack, attack with the visiting keeper being forced into save after save. The breakthrough had to come, surely!! It did with 10 minutes to go and there were no prizes for guessing the scorer! Joe got onto the end of a through ball and coolly placed the ball beyond the goalie and into the bottom corner.

It was then a case of what this Ajax have become so good at doing in these tight games which is closing the game out. The final 10 minutes were drama free with no real action at either end.

Finally the referee blew for full time and another victory for Linslade was recorded. In their first competitive season, they have won 17 / 20 league games and lost just twice (by one goal) to the worthy league champions Bletchley Scot. An amazing achievement from the team.

This week, the Gartec Player of the Match award goes to Noah. His amazing turn and finish changed the game and were a big reason the three points were ours!