⚡ Shardlow United Lightning 4–4 Borrowash Vic’s Rams ⚡

Eight goals, a comeback, a top-corner free kick, huge saves and late drama! Our first away game of the season definitely wasn’t boring! ?⚽

Alvaston Park was the venue as we faced Shardlow United Lightning, another side who earned promotion last season.

? A slow start costs us...

Shardlow came flying out of the blocks and, unfortunately, we didn’t!

Inside the first five minutes, Harry and Lewis were already being called into action, producing saves and blocks to keep the scores level.

But the pressure eventually told. Shardlow grabbed the opener after 8 minutes and struck again just four minutes later.

12 minutes gone: Shardlow 2–0 Rams.

We needed a response... and we got one! ?

?‍♂️ George turns on the turbo!

On 20 minutes, George went on an unbelievable run down the right wing, carrying the ball around 40 yards and taking on defenders as he powered towards the box.

Then came the final pass. The Assist King ? squared it perfectly across goal and Finn kept his cool to finish!

⚽ GOOOAAALLL! 2–1!

Suddenly, we were right back in the game.

From that point, the Rams started to take control. We moved the ball quicker, played with more energy and began causing Shardlow problems.

Then, right on half-time, came the equaliser!

Theo picked up the ball on the left, cut inside and weaved his way past the defenders before getting his shot away. It was blocked, but the loose ball dropped to Finn inside the six-yard box.

He swivelled...

He shot...

⚽ GOAL! 2–2!

FINN AGAIN! BRACE! ??

From 2–0 down to 2–2. Game on!

⚡ Second-half battle

The half-time message was simple: keep up the tempo we showed during the final 15 minutes.

But the second half started almost exactly like the first. Shardlow were quicker out of the blocks and punished us again.

3–2.

Once again, though, the Rams refused to give in.

Some excellent midfield play between Oli and Tom opened Shardlow up before Oli slid a brilliant pass through to Theo.

Theo made no mistake, expertly placing the ball into the corner!

⚽ 3–3!

Back again! ?

? Huge double save... but cruel luck!

Shardlow then came at us again and Harry produced a fantastic DOUBLE SAVE to keep them out.

He deserved to get away with it after two brilliant stops, but the second rebound took a horrible bounce off one of our own defenders and ended up in the net.

4–3 Shardlow.

Cruel.

But these lads weren't finished.

? THEO. TOP BINS. ?

The Rams threw everything at getting another equaliser.

Ronnie drove towards the Shardlow box and was brought down right on the edge.

Free kick.

Theo stepped up...

? BANG!

Straight into the TOP CORNER! ?⚽

The keeper had absolutely NO CHANCE!

4–4!

What a strike! ???

? Late drama!

We weren't happy with just a point either. We pushed for the winner and had chances to take all three.

Then Theo was brought down inside the box.

PENALTY RAMS!

Finn stepped up looking for his hat-trick, but unfortunately the Shardlow keeper guessed correctly and produced a good save.

So after an absolutely crazy game...

⚡ FULL TIME: SHARDLOW 4–4 RAMS ⚡

Fair play to Shardlow. They battled us all the way, played with plenty of energy and punished us when we weren't switched on.

For us, there were loads of positives. Coming back repeatedly showed great character. We scored four good goals, created enough chances to win the match and never stopped fighting. ?

But we also know we can be better.

The biggest lesson is our starts. We can't spend the warm-up half asleep and then expect to suddenly switch on when the whistle goes! ?➡️?

We were caught cold at the beginning of both halves, and at this level teams will punish you for it.

That's something for the coaches and players to work on. We need to make the warm-up count, get our heads in the game earlier and be ready to go from minute ONE.

Do that, and performances like the final 15 minutes of the first half show exactly what this team is capable of.

Plenty to work on... but plenty to be excited about too! ⚽⚡?

Up the Rams! ??