A small crowd made the long journey to Orleston on Saturday, and watched the Ross Juniors Colts U9s play in picture postcard surroundings on a cold and windy day, with a sticky grassy pitch which sloped with the wind.

The game commenced with Orleston kicking down the slope with the wind on their backs. It was an end to end encounter before Orleston started to make camp in the Ross half and soon they curled the ball in to the bottom corner of the Ross net. Following the kick off they scored again in the roof of the net and a high score looked ominous. This spurred on the Colts and they became more tenacious in their play and forced a corner. The ball came out to Alfie who was sythed down and the free kick from Todd found the side netting. The Colts were now playing much better football with more effort but a long speculative Orleston shot, assisted by the wind and the slope, found the net.

The match was then focused on the centre of the pitch, with the odd wind assisted Orleston shot being made.

The move of the first half came after great play from Owen down the right. He passed to William, whose shot was parried by the Orleston keeper and cleared off the line. The second part of the first half had been much better and the expectant crowd were looking forward to a Colts comeback. Half time 3-0.

Charlie replaced Isaac (who had an injured hand) in goal and Ross attacked from the kick off. A Todd corner went right across the box but then a Colts defensive mix up led to an Orleston goal. Colts would not lie down, and an excellent cross by Owen led to William smashing the ball in to the roof of the net. The play was then end to end for a while with Callum making some important interceptions.

The ball broke to William heading towards goal in the middle of a group of Orleston players. All they could do was unceremoniously hack him down and there was no justice as Todd’s great free grazed the outside of the Orleston post. A long range effort by William was saved by the keeper, then a Todd corner led to Alfie being pushed over, but Todd’s penalty was not to his usual standard and the keeper saved.

Owen, probably the smallest player on the pitch, deserves a special mention for his tenacious tackling and commitment. He had his best game and his storming run led to the ball going out for a corner when he deserved so much more.

The Ross team were committed in both defence and attack as the exciting end to end encounter continued. Trickery by the totally committed Alfie on the wing should have reaped a better reward but the many Orleston defenders crowded him out and the cross was cut out.

The move of the match came in the dying minutes, the ball was passed to William midway in his half and he drove forward and curled a long pass to Todd on the left wing. Todd drove forward and put in an excellent cross that William connected with and he hit the ball. The Ross crowd leaped, but amazingly the ball went wide. This was poetry in motion, apart from the end result.

The match soon ended. Ross had been the better team in the second half but a good Orleston team had held on to the victory.

If you are in year 4 and would like to be part of Ross Juniors Colts, please come and join them. They are improving, their matches are exciting and they have a great team spirit. They would love to welcome a few more players. They train 6-7pm on Tuesdays at JKHS astroturf. Please just ask for Paul.