U9 Vipers
Rotherfield completed their eighteenth and final game of the Hicks Development League with a 4-2 win over Purley Jubilee - the result meant that they finished the season with the impressive statistics of thirteen wins, four draws and just one loss.
The game didn't start too well for the Vipers who found themselves a goal down inside the first five minutes when they failed to clear a corner and the ball was forced in from close range. They responded in the best possible way though with an immediate equaliser; Jack Stevens delivered an inswinging corner from the left which Adam Fearnside duly volleyed into the top corner to make it 1-1.
Purley continued to apply pressure at the other end and altough Isaac Hylton made a good save to keep the scores level, Jubilee did retake the lead with a goal which was almost identical to their first. Again, Rotherfield replied in the best possible way with another goal of their own; this one came from the unlikeliest of sources when defender Kalhan Shah launched a huge throw-in from the right flank which took a slight deflection from a Purley player but then contined on into the Jubilee goal.
Just before the break, Rotherfield took the lead for the first time in the game when Fearnside curled in a dangerous corner from the left which was unfortunately headed into his own goal by a Purley defender.
In the second half, there continued to be chances at both ends; Shah was working hard at the back for the Vipers, making a number of goal-saving tackles and blocks and Stevens came close at the other end with a number of shots from distance. The result was sealed for the Vipers five minutes from time when a Fearnside shot struck the post and then rolled along the goal-line where Nick Swan was on hand to blast in the fourth.
The effort award was given to Jack Stevens for a determined second-half performance.
Photos
Squad
Isaac Hylton, Jack Williams, Kalhan Shah, Owen Lowe, Liam Ruiz, Jack Stevens, Nick Swan, Adam Fearnside