Mid
Subs: Zak Pickett, David Smith, Miles Hodge, Kane Kellaway, Kelvin Bagot.
The boys did their coach proud and gave him the perfect send off to add to the fine memories over the years. This was the icing on the cake as his side won six games on the bounce to seal the Mid Solent Under 15 B Division league title to run out champions.
Top goalscorer Michael Wall scored all three goals in a 3-1 win to finish with a fine hattrick and finish the season on 27 goals. His first of the game came as early as the 8th minute when Tom Ashton's stinging shot was too hot to handle. Jozef Montigue made a fair sliding challenge on the keeper when the ball was spilled as he had just one glove on the ball and managed to flick it to his right to provide Michael with the simplest of finishes from close range.
Man of the match Liam Godfrey had little to do, but when called upon as East Lodge looked for the long ball over the top of the defence on the counter attack, Liam did very well as Chandlers Ford controlled the game for the majority.
Unfortunately the 'Warrior' Ahmed Sfagsi, who would run through a brick wall for his team if asked, bravely went up for an aerial ball with an opponent only for the pair to clash heads. Despite battling on for ten minutes, it appeared the tough tackling midfielder came off worse for wear and was unable to continue due to blurred vision and sickness. It was revealed later that Ahmed had to spend hours in hospital as he was checked over for concussion.
Josh Harrigan switched to central midfield whilst David Smith came in at centre half.
Zak Pickett was also struggling through the pain with a bad coccyx and as a result was limited in his participation.
Tom Ashton was a driving force in midfield, as he has been all season and came close with several long range efforts. Wall skipped past three opponents with super skill before driving a 30-yard shot narrowly wide of the upright.
Other than a brief scare wen an East Lodge forward found himself one on one with Godfrey after beating his marker for pace - only to fire over the cross bar with Liam doing just enough to close the angle and put pressure on the shot; the defence led superbly by dominant captain Michael Sawbridge alongside the in-form Jake Beattie (two man of the match awards in a row), Smith and the ever-reliable David Kilcoyne all stood firm to provide a solid base at the back.
During the half time break the visiting keeper verbally abused the referee and threw his gloves at the match official at which point he was promptly shown a straight red card.
His indiscipline meant that East Lodge would have to play out the second half with just ten men. Ironically it was hard to tell that East Lodge were the side with a man down as they piled on the pressure early doors to draw level when a chipped shot slipped through the grasp of second half substitute Kelvin Bagot and into the net.
Thankfully Ford responded and rallied to win the game thanks to two strikes from Wall.
Montigue came so close to making it four as he beat his man before having his shot towards the bottom right hand corner turned away expertly by the goalkeeper for a corner kick, before Michael Sawbridge powered his way through a host of players and into the box only to fire wide of goal.
It's been a great journey and you have all been a pleasure to work with and coach, thanks for the good times and congratulations once again for ending on a high and winning the league - you've all played a phenomenal part and fully deserve your awards.
After the game, the celebrations began with photos taken and trophies being awarded - see the gallery below.
FULL TIME: CFY 3-1 East Lodge
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