Ross Juniors Men’s 1st team welcomed top of the table Hinton to the Sports Centre on Saturday, November 3rd, seeing a game that ebbed and flowed both ways and the score finished 2 – 2.

Ross made a few changes to the team from last week with Jack Bray, Danny Rodda, James Reid and Jimmy Moreton all coming into the starting line-up. Ross started with a 3-5-2 formation and from the first whistle settled into the game the better of the 2 teams without creating any clear cut chances, the best chance fell to Moreton who rattled the cross bar from fully 30 yards with the keeper easily beaten.

Hinton always looked dangerous on the break and took the lead on 20 minutes. Ross didn’t clear their lines after a corner, although Hinton’s midfielder still had a lot to do and fired an unstoppable volley from the edge of the box past Keeper Roberts to put them 1 up. They didn’t keep their lead for1 long Ross equalised after 30 minutes, a brilliant cross by Rodda was met by a towering header by Bray to even up the scores at 1 – 1 at the break.

Ross came out well in the 2nd half and were knocking the ball around with confidence and enjoying the main bulk of possession, going forward they always looked dangerous and only some last ditch defending and good goal keeping kept the scores level.

It came as no surprise when Ross took the lead after 70 minutes, James Reid finishing from a tight angle to put Ross 2 – 1. This seemed to spur the away side into playing their best football of the game, Hinton’s striker missed 2 good chances to even up the scoring.

It was no surprise when they got a deserved equaliser, however Ross were left frustrated with the manner of the goal, a free header from a corner. In the end both sides were happy with a point, after an entertaining game. Man of the match was Jimmy Moreton.

The 2nd team kept up their unbeaten run, with a hard fought 2 – 2 draw away against Marden. Ross showed great character coming from 2 goals down to get a well-deserved point win goals from Mikey Aston and Jake Winter. A four game unbeaten run has seen Ross stabilise their mid table position. Man of the match was Val Radu, for making some excellent saves during the 90 minutes.

This weekend the 1st team make the trip to face Shobdon in the quarter finals of the HFA Junior Cup, whilst the 2nd team are at home against Belmont Rangers.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.