On a chilly Saturday morning the Merchant Taylor’s second team faced St Albans. After two previous positive performances unfortunately neither of which could be converted to a win the lads were eager for a victory. 

 

The ball was pushed back and from the get-go Taylor’s obtained control, pressing high and hard up the pitch in search of a goal. After around 15 minutes, numerous chances at goal and a short corner Taylor’s were finally able to convert their desires into a goal. Nice link up play through the midfield pivoted around a Krish Dixit who with a cool finish slotted away Taylor’s first. 

 

Dominance in possession was maintained by MTS but despite such control we struggled to put another one away. Threats from St Albans were kept to a minimum by the rock-solid Taylor’s defence who upon the sole occasion let a man through were saved by keeper Louis Rosenbaum in close to his only piece of action for the outing. 

 

After a rallying team talk the boys went out and improvement was clear. Skipper Austen Betridge alongside George Killergrew dominated the midfield stringing together attacks that just couldn’t quite materialise into goals but the moment for a second came. 

A Taylor’s attack brewed down the left-hand side as the ball was passed with precision around the D but a moment of magic from Oskhar Shiakh capitalised on an opportunity, winning a foot in the D and securing another short corner. Ollie Davies stood up for the flick and after insisting on practicing his drag flicks in every training session he seemed to reap the reward. A well-executed flick was slotted in the top right corner to give Taylor’s a 2-goal advantage. From there on out attacks continued to be launched with excellence but just lacking that last finish to secure the goal. 

The match ended 2-0 to Taylor’s with captain Austen beating competitor Krish Dixit in the vote for man of the match for his presence in the Taylor’s central midfield.