Eight goal thriller against Balmacewen First XI

By Will Heggie

The Tahuna first XI arrived at the artificial turf to face the Balmacewen squad. We warmed up, tuned in to some tactical preparations, and learnt our positions for the game.The referee blew his whistle and the match began.

Balmacewen pressed our defence with stylish footwork and crisp passing. We managed to stay solid until a Balmacewen midfielder was fouled on the border of the box, they were awarded a dangerous free-kick. Our goalkeeper was so blinded by a cluster of black, white, and red uniforms, that he didn’t see the ball pulverise the net. 1-0 to Balmacewen.

We all wanted a win and we were determined to not equalise, but to take the lead…

We surprised the Balmacewen team with a taste of our own proficiency and equalised with a cheeky goal. 1-1. Late in the first half, we thought we had it covered but the opposition suddenly shot unexpectedly from long range and took the lead. 2-1 to Balmacewen (Unfortunately). The whistle blows for half-time, Phwwtt!.

Tahuna kicked off the second half, with a pass to the defence. The defence then fling it up to our right-winger who forwards the ball towards the keeper for the striker to run onto. He does so and flicks it past the goalkeeper. 2-2. Both teams scored another to make it 3-3, but then Balmacewen scored a clever fourth. 4-3 to Balmacewen.

Ten minutes later and Balmacewen still had the advantage. Encouragement was being screamed out like ‘’Heads up’’, or “Don't give up yet!”. It seemed to be working as a ball from the midfield was shot at goal, but deflected by a defender, corner! The corner was curled in beautifully, but not classically onto one's head, but onto one's foot. The ball struck the left-wingers' foot nicey and rolled into the goal at pace!. 4-4.

The referee blew the final whistle of the game and we were happy to settle with a draw as we played extremely well!