On Sunday 2nd June, the Think With Your Feet (DFC Foundation) squad took on Teesside Erimus in a rematch which ended 5-5 in August. That first game was a feisty affair with 10 goals and 2 red cards. The rematch was equally interesting.
The game was played at Whitwork Park Academy in Spennymoor and with the teams arriving in good time, we had one absentee - the referee. Despite the opposition saying they had sourced one, he didn't show up, this would have a huge bearing on the game.
The Foundation team lined up with one change from the previous squad with the introduction of young Marcus Benson, who recently turned 18 joining the team. His dad, The Viking, Neil Richards was a proud man.
The game kicked off and the Foundation quickly found themselves on the wrong end of the first of many decisions as an offside striker was allowed to play on, turn past Tom Cave and score to make it 1-0 after just two minutes. History was to repeat itself on seven minutes when another offside AND handball goal was allowed to stand.
Frustrations were growing when the gaffer Barry Thompson and the Palace-supporting Danny Heather were both called offside from clearly onside positions. Despite this the team kept working hard and could have pulled a goal back when some neat play led Benson to be through on goal but he put his shot wide.
Half Time
TWYF 0 Teesside Erimus 0 Ref 2
The second half began with a couple of changes, Carl Mansfield's knees taking a deserved break and Sonny De Luca and Joe Stoker entering the battlefield. Thompson should have pulled a goal back when Owen Agnew actually ran and pulled the ball back for Thompson to blaze over the bar. Moments later, a break from Emirus led by a penalty as Matty Wheeler was adjudged to have fouled an Emirus player, after about 15 seconds the game was pulled back for a penalty which was duly dispatched although on the replay it looks like keeper Ben Hodgson could have saved it.
Into the last ten minutes with the TWYF boys 3-0 down, a superb low cross from captain Adam Lynas was turned home by Thompson to make it 3-1. Just a minute later, after a marvellous throughball by Kevin Mallen, Thompson returned the favour to Lynas who found that his right foot is not just for standing on and he made it 3-2. TWYF were now piling on the pressure but another defensive error this time from Joe Stoker allowed Erimus to make it 4-2. Undeterred the black and reds poured forward again with Lynas breaking the offside trap to square to Thompson who rifled the ball into the top corner from 18 yards for his 13th goal in 5 TWYF matches. Sadly, this was to be the last action of the day and the boys fell to an error-strewn defeat.
TWYF 3 Teesside Erimus (with the help of the 'ref') 4
For the full game you can watch here https://fb.watch/syytwjX1LA/
TWYF Team
Hodgson, Waters, Richards, Mansfield, Cave, Gunnell, Agnew, Lynas, Thompson, Mallen, Benson.
Subs: De Luca, Heather, Stoker
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