Match Report - COQUET ULTRAS - 15 Nov 2017

We flippin' did it boys. Berocca Juniors' first ever victory in the 7-a-side format was a bit of a shambles, but the lads oozed enough quality to wrap up the win.

It was a bottom of the table clash on a chilly Wednesday night. The opposition were Coquet Ultras, Teddy Lee's former club, one of the teams representing the River-folk of Northumberland, hailing from the River Coquet. As all young geographers would know, any river with a basin of 625 km2 and an average discharge of 8.7 m3/s is going to be able to put out a decent football team, so the Juniors knew they were in for a tough one.

To tackle their slippery opponents, the BJFC squad fielded was a typically strong one, featuring debutant Rowan Franks. Having had a 40-minute warm up, Franks looked set for a footballing masterclass or throw up, one of the two. Fortunately, it was to be the former, as Franks latched onto a James Sproston ball to open the scoring. Jack Edwards then had an opportunity to double the lead from captain Harri Saunders' lofted ball over the top, but the bounce wasn't kind, and in an attempt to steer the ball home, Jack ended up closer to the net than the ball.

Gollum then hit back for Coquet to level up, but Tom Coulthard quickly added another for the Juniors. However, just before the half-time interval, Coquet equalised again. Having regrouped and revitalised, the Juniors were ready to go again, creating a string of chances after the break. It was Franks that again put the lads into the lead with a fierce left-footed strike having won the ball deep in the opposition half. Franks then added another after being found by housemate William Nicoll. However, the boys once again found themselves pegged back as the ball was played into a space in between Nicoll and Jared Liam Moore in the net. A collision comparable to the big bang resulted in the ball bobbling into the net, but no one knows how.

Yet this did not deter the Juniors, as both Nicoll and Lee blazed over good chances, and Coulthard continued to find the keeper with every effort he had. One effort that the man between the sticks managed to save led to a BJFC corner, that Coulthard did manage to tuck away from the Franks ball into the mixer. In an attempt to draw level again, Coquet threw a decoy ball onto the pitch. Though Moore chased after it like a cat to wool, it wasn't to prove costly, as the big man recovered to make a fine save.

Coulthard completed his hat-trick after converting from Edwards' pass, with Nicoll scoring the final goal of the game after nodding in Coulthard's cross from the left. Since both Franks and Coulthard got hat-tricks, both deserved to take the match ball home. However, the balls that Will Nicoll and Teddy Lee had launched out of the cage and into the local building site hadn't been retrieved, so our two hat-trick heroes remain ball-less.

As always big love to Mob Kitchen for making us look well keen.