This was due to be the first of 3 big matches against a Nunnery Tigers team which has started the season well and look to be one of the teams that has to be beaten if the Sharks want to win the league.

With the pre-match team talk over the Sharks produced a superb first half performance in restricting the free scoring Nunnery team to one shot on target and creating several good chances.

The Sharks started the game well with a well constructed move down the left wing. Andy Murphy crossed the ball to James Ridge he delivered a good pass back into Andy's path. Andy's first time shot was well saved by Toby Wilcox. The Sharks soon created another clear cut opportunity when good defending and distribution by Ben Jones found Matt Sowden in space. Matt then delivered a pinpoint pass in behind the Nunnery left back for James Stevens to run clear through on goal. James's shot rifled past the keeper and inches past the far post. Within a couple of minutes another good move down the left side ended with a cross which found Kieran Burns with space in the area. His control was good but his shot from 6 yards out was not as good as his miss hit effort was picked up by a grateful keeper. The Sharks were dominating the early stages with Nunnery not able to get any sort of foothold in the game.

The Sharks then had their best chance of the match so far when a pass over the top by James Ridge found Kieran Burns. He put enough pressure on the keeper and the ball fell to James Stevens. James had an open goal but he sliced his effort a couple of yards wide of the upright. Then yet another clear chance for the Sharks was spurned when Kieran held onto the ball after good play by Matt Sowden. Kieran then slid the ball into James Stevens path. He then muscled past last defender and hit a good shot from a narrow angle which was well saved by Toby Wilcox , who was having a superb game for the Tigers.

Nunnery occasionally put some passes together but they could not get behind the impressive defensive centre partnership of JJ Kealey and Liam Dayus.

20 minutes on the clock and another clear site on goal for the Sharks when Kieran Burns fed the ball into Matt Sowden on the edge of the area. His well struck near post shot was again well saved. 25 minutes on the clock and the Sharks had 6 good chances and had not taken them. At this point in the game it looked as if the Sharks would pay for their generosity in front of goal. Nunnery then had their first shot on target when their quick centre forward managed to get 1/2 a yard on JJ Kealey. Liam Dayus stood off when he should have closed down and the Nunnery's front man shot on the run was a good one but was straight at Harry Stanley. Any where else and the Sharks could have found them selves 1-0 down with only themselves to blame.

Another Sharks chance went begging this time some tenacious play by James Stevens ended up with him hitting a shot which came off the post. The follow up shot by Andy Murphy went a foot wide of the target. But eventually the pressure told when the Sharks danger man, James Stevens, was put through after another intelligent pass from Matt Sowden. This time he closed in on goal a ripped his shot past the despairing dive of Toby who had no chance this time.

Soon afterwards the Half time whistle blew. The Sharks midfield 4 performed well and dominated their counterparts in the first half. Matt Sowden distribution and work rate was superb. James Stevens strength and pace down the right side of midfield caused havoc for the Nunnery defence , Connor Thomasson sat in front of the back four and broke up several Nunnery attacks while Andy Murphy on the left worked hard and had a couple of good efforts on goal.

Despite only scoring 1 goal this was our best half of football this season. The 4 defenders in the first half Ben Jones , Jordan Slade , Liam Dayus and JJ Kealey all looked composed and limited a good Nunnery team to 1 shot on target.

The 2nd half started quietly with the Nunnery Team getting more of the ball and looking more composed. But it was the Sharks who created the first clear chance of the 2nd half when James Ridge was played through by a clinical pass from Matt Sowden. His shot was again bravely blocked by Toby. Just after this this Nunnery produced their best move of the match when a flowing movement down the right wing ended with a good cross into the area by Bradley Hunt.

The Sharks defence managed to clear the danger after a couple of blocked efforts. Jai Gilchrist almost scored when after some good play by Sam Langston he was clear through on goal. Jai stubbed his shot wide of the target . Matt Sowden produced another piece of quality when his run and pass found James Stevens in space on the right wing. James hit what looked to be a goal bound shot. But again the shot drifted inches wide. After this Nunnery battled hard and for the first time in the match had some possession and territory in the Sharks half . They then created some space on the edge of the area after some good passing . The shot from the edge of the area was well saved by Harry Stanley.

The 2nd half became more of a midfield battle and there was not as many chances being created by the Sharks. Nunnery had the opportunity to deliver some free kicks into the penalty box from good positions put the Sharks defence was secure enough to repel the Nunnery attacks. Nunnery nearly equalised when a well struck shot from 20 yards dipped under the cross bar. Harry got a hand to the ball and tipped it onto the under side of the cross bar. The first to react to the rebound was a Sharks defender and the danger was cleared. This could well have been the turning point of the match for Nunnery if this had gone in but in the end this was the closest the Tigers came to scoring.

As the 2nd half progressed it looked as if Nunnery was starting to win the midfield battle but Matt Sowden's battling performance ensured the Sharks always posed a threat going forward.

With 5 minutes to go Nunnery tried to get the equalising goal and they started to commit men forward. But the Sharks were trying to pen the Tigers back in their own half and keep the ball in the corner and run down the clock. But in the last 3 minutes the Sharks had three good chances to seal the game . The first fell to Jack Rule when a cross from the left wing found Jack with what appeared an open goal. But a stunning block by the Nunnery defender some how kept out Jack Rule's well struck shot from 8 yards out. The Sharks finally killed the game off when another left wing cross found a Sharks attacker in space. The first shot was well saved but the follow up by Jai Gilchrist gave Toby no chance and the Sharks a well deserved 3 points.

This was a good game of football between 2 teams full of good players. On the day the Sharks produced some good football and probably should have won the game by half time. But if you do not take your chances a team of the Tigers quality could easily sneak a draw. This they nearly did and when they hit the crossbar it could easily have bounced the wrong side of the line for the Sharks. As with previous games the Sharks could have scored more goals but in tight games like this we must take a higher percentage of our chances if we are to maintain our challenge to win the U12 Stourport league.

We know that the Tigers will come back fighting in the next game and the sharks will have to match this performance if they are to any chance of getting a similar result.