On Thursday 11th October Stretton Handley faced their second home match of the season at home against a good Grassmoor team.
Stretton started the game with a fast pace. Some quick foot work from MH created a chance which was blocked by the defender. Once again, LH continued to impress in her central midfield role and her long throw in created the first goal. The throw caused a scramble in the box which led to LR laying the ball off for MH to tap home, 1-0. From kick-off, a good tackle by GH and pass from GT left LR with the ball. He played a good ball through the middle which MH ran onto and passed the ball into the bottom corner, 2-0. Just before half tim,e the Grassmoor defence played a hopeful ball up the field and with the wind swirling round, TH in goal misjudged the ball and unfortunately it landed in the back of the net. Half time 2-1.
The second half began and Stretton Handley now had the extra wind on their side. They played a fantastic second half. A solid midfield performance from LR and LH meant that Grassmoor struggled to create any chances and when they did, the excellent defence by KH, GT, RJ and GH proved too strong for the attackers.
KH made a good tackle and passed to LR who then played a good low ball to MH who scored his hat trick, 3-1. Two minutes later and LH passed to MH who again proved to fast and skillful for Grassmoor and scored his 4th goal! 4-1. Grassmoor did create one good chance and a fantastic double save from TH kept the score at 4-1.
With 2 minutes left LR found himself 1 on 1 with the keeper and he shot well but the keeper closed down the angle and managed to save it.
Finally, RJ, with a tackle / shot saw the ball perfectly fly into the top corner. What a goal! 5-1 to Stretton Handley.
A fantastic performance all round with a stand out performance by MH (4 goals) and LR who were voted joint star players by the Grassmoor manager. An excellent win by an improving team!