The hottest November Saturday on record saw us resume fixtures at Fortress Therfield after 2 disappointing results had seen us knocked off the top of the table and our visitors, Trinity, have always proved challenging adversaries.

Keeping possession was the problem last week so it was gratifying when we took charge early on in the fixture having, by far, much the better of the early exchanges, Josh Lewis coming perilously close to opening his, and our, account.

We were comfortable in defence too, so we thought nothing of an innocuous pass was swept from Jon Elburn to Paul Campbell wide left until it missed his stick and almost his feet too. Trinity were alive to it and quickly took the free hit but no problem as Jon Elburn was there to cover, until he fell over. No problem as the keeper Big Kevin Lindsay was there and the Trinity player had been forced wide and he was on the back line so all he could do was have a speculative diving one handed swipe as the ball ran out of play. However, somehow the ball squirmed under the keeper and nestled inside the far post to give Trinity an unlikely lead 0-1

Trinity’s strength was definitely their attacking threat and their goal had thrown us into disarray and put us firmly on the back foot. Only a timely tackle in front of the keeper by Shaun Burchell, yes Shaun Burchell the man who can’t defend, prevented us going further behind and the pressure was mounting.

Another Trinity penetration saw a ball lifted over the advancing the Keeper only for Paul Campbell to swipe the goal bound effort off line line to the relative safety of a PC. Alas the reprieve was short lived, the PC strike was half blocked by Andrew Egles but the ball ballooned slowly towards our goal where it was helped on its way with a little deflection before we could lay anything on it and we were 2-0 down.

Before the start we had outlined how susceptible the Trinity backs were to pace and with Shaun Burchell, Olly Ruff and Josh Lewis we had pace a-plenty we just needed to exploit their weakness. With the first half reaching the last ten minutes we finally got our foot hold. James Hackett broke down play on our 25 and released the ball into space down the right channel. Olly Ruff outpaced his marker and as the keeper advanced he fed Josh Lewis on the left of the D, his effort was repelled by the scrambling Keeper but the rebound fell to Olly who slid the ball home to make it 2-1.

It was like an epiphany, 2 mins later another break from deep and Olly again outpaced defence, this time a solo effort but alas he was too tired to put any venom in his shot.

We had finally realised how to exploit their weakness, another Olly break down the right this time saw his effort from edge of D deflected in by defender to make it 2-2 and 2 goals in 5 mins

Into the last 2 mins of the half and another pace fuelled break , this time down the left with Josh ably supported by James Hackett and Andrew Egles and the final goal bound effort led to feet on the line and a PF that was converted calmly by James Hackett making it 3 goals in 8 minutes an unlikely 3-2 lead at half time.

The half-time talk was more positive that it could have been, we isolated the players we needed to mark to negate their threat and what we needed to do to exploit their weaknesses. In essence the next goal could be pivotal.

Upon commencing the 2nd half it appeared Trinity had also hatched a game plan although most of exchanges were fruitless with neither team threatening. We were giving away too many fouls in the final third which was leading to a few PCs and it was from one of those PCs that a well worked drill saw them convert for 3-3 and their tails were up.

We still had our plan and sure enough just 2 minutes a long ball from midfield found Shaun Burchell free on their 25 with just the goalie to beat, with their defenders striving to get back he drove into the D. He shifted the ball left making the keeper move and with and Andrew Egles busting a lung down the right and James Hackett arriving at the top of the D he played the perfect reverse stick pass to bisect the pair of them and alas the chance was gone.

If we were going to score it would again be a break as per the first half goals and these were coming thick and fast as both teams were tiring, we just needed one more chance and a cool, calm head.

Sure enough we had another break away, and we have to pay due deference to our defence and screens whose tireless work turns over so much possession. Andrew Egles this time fed Olly Ruff, he drove down the right and passed his marker before playing the ball across towards the far post where Josh Lewis arrived at pace to sweep the ball home for his first ever goal and put us ahead 4-3. Cue massive team celebration not to mention his proud dad on the sidelines who had to be restrained from running around the pitch.

The game now stretched with Trinity desperately searching for an equaliser and us hanging high for the break away but our defence held firm. Into the final minutes of what seemed an ludicrously long half and we were conceding too many PCs, Simon Fuller making 2 last ditch rescues in quick succession and Graham Lowe his usually 100% committed self diving to sweep the ball clear to quell our racing heart rates.

Aptly the final whistle went with the ball on halfway for a 4-3 win.

SCORERS: Olly Ruff 2, James Hackett & Josh Lewis