Hulme come out on top at Ramblers

After the appalling midweek encounter at Latymer Upper, the boys really had a point to prove. The trip to Liverpool was always a difficult prospect with the opposition being open age. As the boys stepped onto the pitch, many comments were passed on the quality, after the shower the night before the ball was running smoothly along the surface. The game got under way and Hulme began to dominate from the off. The ball began to slide around Ramblers without any real opposing threat. Midway through the first half Jordan Marsh picked up the ball on the edge of the opposition area shooting goal ward only to be blocked by a Liverpool defender. He then quickly collected the deflected ball to power the ball over the keepers head into the back of the net. Soon after the restart Danny Orr fired a thunderbolt of a shot only to ricocheted off the cross bar. After some sensational runs from Jamie Paul and near misses from several players Bradley Ashford collected the ball towards the corner flag and attempted a whipped cross which luckily for him, ended up floating into the top corner of the net. Soon after Josh Mcconnell surged down the left flank, cutting inside and used some tricky footwork before being brought down, only for the referee to dismiss his claims of a penalty. He recieves a 9.5 for his theatrical performance. Then a quick passage of play between Danny Orr and Jamie Paul led to the third; with only minutes until half time, Danny Orr played a clever ball through the heart of the Ramblers defence, only for Jamie Paul to run onto and smash the ball past the opposition keeper. Hulme led 3-0 at half way point, with compliments from Mr Marshall.
Hulme made a number of changes at the half with Zak Forster, Thomas Chapman, Jake Crawley replacing James Summers, Josh Mcconnell and Danny Orr. Ramblers started brightly and created a number of good spells of possession. However the heart of Hulmes defence kept strong, with notable effort and determination from Danny Harrop and Brad Norcross. Another quick move combined with pressure on the Ramblers back four applied by the goal hungry Thomas Chapman and clever play created by Michael Tomlinson led to Hulmes next goal. Intercepting possession on the half way line, Michael carried the ball before placing an intelligent ball right through the middle of Ramblers defence, only for Jamie Paul to slot cooly past the helpless Ramblers keeper for his second and Hulmes fourth goal. At this point Mr Marshall decided to let some of the starters to the game have a rest. He brought off Jamie Paul, Danny Harrop and Michael Tomlinson who had all put in a shift for their team, they were replaced by James Summers, Brad Ashford and Josh Mcconnell. At this point Hulme seemed to lose focus and conceded their first when the Ramblers striker walked through the Hulme defence to slot the ball right through Tyler Moultons legs. Immediately after the restart Ramblers scored again when a rush of blood from Tyler Moulton as he failed in his attempt to clear the ball 25 yards out of his penalty area, only gave the Ramblers player the opportunity to shoot at an open net. Again after this Hulmes heads dropped as the Ramblers striker struck an unstoppable strike on the edge of the box into the top corner of the goal. Hulme were in great danger of letting a great lead slip, until the frustrated Jake Crawley applied some sheer brilliance to the game with a succsession of turns before smashing a 30 yard screamer into the top corner to kill the game off. Overall the boys displayed as strong performance against an experienced side. Leader of the shower conference team Daniel Harrop awarded the Ramblers showers an 8.5. We look forward to a tough cup encounter on monday. Man of the Match - Jamie Paul