Avalon 0 – BTH 4
A big game beckoned for both grades as BTH made the longest trip of the season to Avalon. The lads were told to expect "young, fit aussie blokes" which seemed to get Joe Rushton rather excited...
BTH rather unusually made a good start to the game, creating a couple of early half chances and pressing well inside he Avalon half.
Things got even better pretty quickly when a long diagonal FK from Craigo caused their keeper all sorts of trouble. Man of the Match and man mountain Jack Brown beat the hapless keeper with his head and the ball rolled into the unoccupied net to make it 1-0.
Rather than sitting back which we've been guilty of before, BTH pressed even harder and soon found themselves 2-0 up. A great pass from Ben "pretty boy" Gillies found Jason Lal who had a lot to do from 40 yards out. After beating the defender, the veteran curled an absolute beauty into the far corner with his left foot. BTH then continued to control the game until the half time whistle.
Whilst Avalon came out and gave it a good go in the 2nd half, Massey was never really troubled in goal, with everybody doing their job defensively from top to bottom.
Super sub and newest hero Jav made the best impact imaginable around 70 minutes in when he beat the offside trap and lobbed the keeper from 25 yards out.
The final 20 minutes should have been easy and relaxed for BTH but it turned out to be the complete opposite. A combination of fussy refereeing, a horrendous tackle on Gillies to put Avalon down to 10 men and some classic banter from the lads on the sideline made great viewing for any spectators. BTH were cruising to chants of olé everytime we made a pass or tackle. The Avalon fans tried to get involved too but didn't get very far as BTH would keep winning possession back quickly. George's Harle wrapped up an impressive win with 5 minutes left with a textbook free kick into top bins. His conversion rate is becoming ridiculous now!
The whole team celebrated wildly on the sidelines, with Georgey giving a cheeky wave to the Avalon fans to rub it in their faces.
As the final whistle went, the Avalon faithful soon disappeared with their tails between their legs, but the whole BTH squad came together for the chants and a well-deserved post-match beer.
The atmosphere and morale in the team is at an all-time high and if we take that into the 2nd half of the season then it's hard to see who can stop us!
Next up Mosman, no doubt we will be ready!