Leamington Hibs Juniors 4 vs 2 Binley Woods Junior U15

Our tempo appeared a bit slow in the opening half (maybe as a result of Mick’s self imposed silence!). We made a succession of good opportunities to score but none were converted, one opening in particular created by a great through ball by Dan Humphriss. This inability to convert was then punished by Binley after 16mins. The first half ended with Binley leading 1-0, but we had certainly created enough to be ahead.

From the outset of the second half we were down to 10 men as unfortunately Tylan could not continue and we had no substitutes. This almost seemed to galvanise the team and with Mick back in full voice we started to play with a totally different intensity and tempo. After good efforts from Jermaine, Tarique and Jaden we eventually got our equaliser from an innocuous looking long range shot from Ollie that the keeper misjudged. A minute later we should have taken the lead, Tarique just sliding it wide. In a cruel twist Binley then got the lead back with a rare defensive error by us which led to a penalty that they converted.

At this point it would have been easy for the lads heads to go down but they came back even stronger and attack after attack saw us first equalise with a cool finish by Jaden and then Tarique netted two in quick succession and also hit the bar after great work from Beau. At the final whistle it was 4-2 to Hibs.

Great credit should go to all the lads for a spirited second half. Moving on to the next game I hope they can learn that this tempo and commitment is what really makes the difference between success and defeat.

All 11 players should be given credit for their performance but special mentions for Beau’s rock solid defensive work and Jaden’s work on the right wing which tormented Binley in the second half. Special thanks also to Mick “The Motivator” Shearer, for his second half performance.

Report by Rick May