Hardly Athletic

Islington 6-a-side League Champions
2011 Season

I’ve decided to do something a little different on my blog. I play for a 6 a side football team on Monday evenings; I’ve decided that I’m going to write about us.

First of all, a little bit of background knowledge on the team, we’re called FC Hardly Athletic. We were formed back in September of 2010 where we participated in our first 6 a side tournament on Monday nights somewhere in Islington. In our first season together we managed to finish 2^nd out of nine teams, four points behind eventual winners, Your Mum’s Athletic, my favourite team name in the league by a mile. We’re currently one game into our second season, winning 10-3 last week, we’re currently top of the league.

So that’s a very brief history, if you’d like to keep up with our progress, I’ll be posting our weekly results below, hope you enjoy it.


Hardly Athletic update


I thought I'd just post an update to let you all know why I haven't been updating this regularly as of late. I've been working full time for the past few weeks so haven't had time over the past few weeks to write about the matches.


I've decided to post a general update on how the last couple of matches have gone, but I won't be writing a match report as I won't be doing it justice and I'll probably be making most of it up.


Three weeks ago Hardly Athletic faced Wilberforce Wanderers, if Hardly Athletic won, they'd have won the title. In an incredible match for the neutral the match ended 8-8, the score went from 3-1 to Hardly Athletic to 3-3 then 5-3 to Hardly Athletic, then by the middle of the second half it was 6-5 to Wilberforce, it then became 8-6 to Hardly Athletic, with the final score being 8-8 meaning Hardly Athletic needed one point from their remaining three games to win the league.


Two weeks ago was Hardly Athletic's week off, they had a friendly against North London Magpies which ended 7-3, James Lamb managed to grab a hat trick ;).
Wilberforce Wanderers were in action this week against Dyslexia and had to win to keep up their title challenge, if they failed to win, Hardly Athletic would be champions. In a match that went back n forth the game ended 7-7, this resulted in Hardly Athletic going one better than last season and became Islington 6-a side champions without even kicking a ball.


Last week Hardly Athletic faced off against Hairy Ajax, after a poor start the champions were 3-1 down at half time, but after an outstanding second half performance from Clark Roberts, Hardly Athletic finished the game 9-5 up, with Roberts claiming 6 of the goals.


So there's an update, I wish I could do match reports but I don't have the time tomorrow, we will be playing our penultimate game of the season tomorrow night against Your Mum's Athletic, I will do my best to try and get a match report on this one.


Here's an updated list of the goalscorers for this season, I'm not going to post the league up because the website has got it wrong, but don't worry, we're definitely champions! :)


Top Goalscorers


Clark Roberts- 27


Johann Hoiby- 20


James Lamb- 13


James Townsend- 11


Mike Whitby- 9


Thomas Puchalla- 6


Robert Bennett- 5


Alex Day- 4


Perry Davies- 2


Own Goal- 1


Hardly Athletic (1st) vs Dyslexia United (9th)

After a difficult match against Mini Mees last week, Hardly Athletic were faced with easier opposition in Dyslexia United. This week Day had to shuffle the team around slightly, goalkeeper Chris Corfield got stuck in traffic on the way back from Glastonbury, this left Day without his reliable goalkeeper, Day took it upon himself to take Corfield’s place in goal. The rest of the team lined up as follows, Townsend and Lamb started out in defence, with Puchalla, Roberts and Bennett as the front three players.

Hardly Athletic didn’t start too well, you could see by the way they were playing that complacency was creeping into their play, in the first couple of minutes Dyslexia created a couple of chances that were blocked by Townsend and Lamb. This wasn’t to continue for very long as Dyslexia showed why they’re at the opposite end of the table to Hardly Athletic. They left Puchalla completely unmarked, he tried to control a long ball over the top from Day, the ball struck the outside of Puchalla’s boot and rolled across the goalkeeper into the far corner making it 1-0 to Hardly Athletic.

Before long Hardly Athletic had got into their stride, and in the next few minutes they consolidated their lead with Roberts grabbing two goals in quick succession, the first of which he had the ball played through to him on the right hand side, he took a shot across the goalkeeper which was saved initially, but Roberts was the first to pounce on the rebound, passing the ball into the net with his left foot. The second goal came soon after, Hardly Athletic won a corner, Roberts went across to take it, he managed to hit the ball with the outside of his right foot and curl it into the near post, out of reach of the goalkeeper, it was 3-0 and Hardly Athletic were cruising.

Complacency started to come into Hardly Athletic’s game again, their play became sloppy and they were spending far too much time on the ball, often looking to go past players instead of playing the flowing passing game we’re used to seeing from Hardly Athletic. Dyslexia took advantage of this and managed to pull a goal back to make it 3-1, after some careless play in possession, Dyslexia saw an opening and managed to drill the ball into the bottom corner past stand in goalkeeper Alex Day. Things would only get better for Dyslexia as one goal became two just before half time, a ball was struck tamely towards goal by a Dyslexia player, straight at Day, the keeper went to pick the ball up but managed to palm it in between his own legs to gift Dyslexia with their second goal of the game.

Half time was approaching and Hardly Athletic were looking a bit shocked, they didn’t expect Dyslexia to be as competitive as they were, but in true Hardly Athletic fashion they managed to find a fourth goal just before half time. Over the past few weeks Hardly Athletic have scored some great team goals, but this spectacular goal has to be credited to Roberts who showed some great individual skill. The ball got cleared from a corner, Roberts ran out to collect it, he flicked the bouncing ball up with his first touch and managed to swivel on his left foot and strike the ball into the top corner from about 15 yards from goal, making it 4-2 to Hardly Athletic at the break.

Hardly Athletic emerged from the second half a completely different side, they’d brushed aside the complacency and started playing the type of football that has seen them rise to the top of the table. Hardly Athletic’s good start was rewarded with two goals in quick succession, Bennett made an instant impact, in the second half, tapping in from close range to make it 5-2 to Hardly Athletic. The sixth goal was scored by Puchalla, he received the ball on the left handside after a cross-field pass from Lamb, Puchalla looked up and saw the goalkeeper was slightly out of position and managed to slot the ball past the keeper into the near corner.

Despite Hardly Athletic’s early dominance of the second half, Dyslexia United weren’t giving up without a fight as they managed to pull a goal back to make it 6-3. The goal came as it seemed as though they were running out of ideas, Dyslexia’s captain received the ball on the half way line, and out of frustration he took a cracking shot at goal, the ball found its way through a sea of players leaving stand in goalkeeper, Day, with no chance at all.

The rest of the second half was a pretty dull affair, Hardly Athletic dominated most of the play but never really created anything, and whilst Hardly Athletic were holding onto possession Dyslexia were getting worn down. The last five minutes of the game saw Hardly Athletic bolster their lead, with Bennett grabbing his second and the teams seventh with a tap in from close range, the eighth goal came from some showboating from Puchalla, who appears to be settled in his new team now. Bennett crossed the ball to him, Puchalla let the ball run through his legs slightly and proceeded to perform a ‘Kanu-esque’ flick into the far corner to make it 8-3 and wrap up the game for Hardly Athletic.

Man of the Match: Puchalla and Roberts both scored hat tricks so it’s hard to separate the two; and they both scored some brilliant goals. If I were to choose based on the quality of the goals I’d have to give it to Roberts, after scoring from a corner followed by his incredible volley, both of which were scored whilst Hardly Athletic were under a bit of pressure. These goals also meant that Roberts is catching up to Hoiby in the goal scoring charts, and with the possibility of Hoiby re-joining Hardly Athletic for the last couple of games of the season, it could be a very tight race to become Hardly Athletic’s top goal scorer this season.

League Table

Top Goalscorers


Clark Roberts- 21


Johann Hoiby- 20


James Lamb- 10


Mike Whitby- 9


James Townsend- 8


Robert Bennett-4


Alex Day- 3


Thomas Puchalla- 3


Perry Davies- 2


Own Goals- 1


Hardly Athletic (1st) vs Mini Mees (4th)

After a relatively easy victory last week, Hardly Athletic were coming up against the Portuguese outfit, Mini Mees. Although Mini Mees are placed 4^th in the league table, they provided Hardly Athletic with their toughest test earlier in the season, a match that Hardly Athletic managed to win 4-2, Mini Mees went on to collect a couple of injuries and went on a bad run of games, had this not happened, they’d definitely be up near the top of the league, challenging for the title.

This week Hardly Athletic captain, Alex Day, had a strong squad to choose from, he’d start with Corfield in goal, himself and Townsend at the back with Roberts, Lamb and new signing Puchalla as the front three, Rob Bennett started out as sub for this one.

Mini Mees started out well, playing the way Hardly Athletic expected them too, they were keeping the ball very well, showing lots of good movement, putting Hardly Athletic under constant pressure. In the opening stages of the match Hardly Athletic were on the back foot and were struggling to make any impact on the game, Mini Mees made a couple of good chances, but Corfield was more than a match for them, keeping the game goalless in the opening stages.

Hardly Athletic were struggling to get any rhythm at all, it was difficult for them to get the ball off of Mini Mees, and what made it even more difficult is that whenever Hardly Athletic had the ball, Mini Mees were closing down relentlessly, giving the Hardly Athletic players very little time on the ball. From the way the game was going, it seemed as if the only way Hardly Athletic would be able to make any form of a breakthrough would have been from a counter attack, as Mini Mees flowing play often left gaps that Hardly Athletic had the chance to exploit.

After ten minutes of Hardly Athletic trying to put a decent attack together, they were rewarded with a swift counter attacking move. From the back Corfield rolled the ball out to Day who played the ball up field to Lamb, Lamb managed to get the ball forward to Puchalla who played the ball to Roberts who found himself five yards out, completely unmarked and with little hesitation Roberts placed the ball into the corner to make it 1-0 to Hardly Athletic.

Mini Mees seemed to be shocked after going 1-0 down against the run of play, this showed in their performance as they were struggling to keep the ball with as much ease as they had in the previous ten minutes, Hardly Athletic were growing in confidence and it wasn’t long before they found themselves 2 goals up. In another swift counter attacking moves, Townsend made one of his trademark runs down the right wing, after a good ball forward from Roberts, Townsend, much like Roberts, found himself yards from goal and completely unmarked. Townsend took a touch, gave the goalkeeper the eyes and placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner with his weaker left foot, a very cool finish under lots of pressure.

Hardly Athletic were 2-0 up, completely against the run of play, but Mini Mees weren’t finished, not by a long shot, after a string of good saves from Corfield, Mini Mees managed to pull a goal back. After some flowing football from Mini Mees, they managed to drag Hardly Athletic out of position, one of the Mini Mees players had a bit of time on the ball, Day and Townsend tried to close the ball down, but the Mini Mees player managed to slot it past Corfield from ten yards out, pulling a goal back just minutes before half time.

With just minutes to go before half time, Hardly Athletic were doing all they could to stop Mini Mees getting another goal to go in level at the break. Within the final few minutes if the first half there were numerous goalmouth scrambles, Hardly Athletic were hanging on by a thread, Mini Mees were putting a huge amount of pressure on Hardly Athletic, really testing what has proven to be a solid defence over the course of the season. Despite Hardly Athletic’s solid defending, they couldn’t keep Mini Mees out before the break, with the last kick of the half a Mini Mees player swiped at the ball in another of the many goalmouth scrambles already seen in the match, it took a couple of deflections and found its way past a helpless Corfield, it all seemed to be going wrong after a positive start from Hardly Athletic.

At half time Day was forced into making a change, Lamb hadn’t looked himself in the match so far and claimed he was feeling sick, so Day brought Lamb off for Bennett who would slot in on the right hand side of the pitch.

Things weren’t seeming to get much better for Hardly Athletic as Mini Mees continued to put pressure on them when Hardly Athletic had the ball, and when Mini Mees had the ball, they were playing at a high tempo which Hardly Athletic were struggling to keep up with. Mini Mees dominated the first five minutes and Hardly Athletic were struggling to make an impact, even when Hardly Athletic managed to get the ball forward, the Mini Mees defenders were matching Hardly Athletic’s strike force without too many problems.

Then the inevitable happened, you could tell Hardly Athletic were getting tired, they were concentrating on defending so much that at times they were forgetting to communicate with each other, this would be the downfall of Hardly Athletic which resulted in Mini Mees grabbing their third goal and heading into the lead for the first time in the match. Hardly Athletic had won the ball back, Townsend played the ball out to Puchalla who wasn’t told he had a man on, Puchalla lost the ball as the Mini Mees player nicked in from behind and he smashed it past Corfield to make it 3-2 to Mini Mees.

There was about ten minutes left of the match, and the only result that looked realistic was a Mini Mees win, but Hardly Athletic aren’t top of the league for nothing, they’ve proven this season that they can grind out results when it comes to crunch time, and Hardly Athletic were hoping this would be the case again. Day decided he need to change things up, Puchalla was feeling tired so Lamb came on to replace him.

The substitution didn’t really do much to change the way the game was playing out, Mini Mees continued to dominate and were appearing to get a bit cocky with their style of play. It was brilliant to see Mini Mees in full flow, but at times they completely neglected their defensive responsibilities, this happened more and more as they tried to grab the fourth goal that would surely kill Hardly Athletic off for good. After another attacking move from Mini Mees, Corfield gained control of the ball, he rolled it out to Lamb who managed to guide the ball forward towards Roberts, from the swift counter attack Roberts had a chance to exploit Mini Mees as they only had one defender at the back, he shifted the ball onto his trusty right foot and managed to guide the ball past Mini Mees goalkeeper to draw level with only minutes remaining! Like Hardly Athletic’s other goals it had come against the run of play, but it didn’t matter, Hardly Athletic knew that Mini Mees were always going to be vulnerable at the back and managed to exploit them again, it was 3-3 with only a couple of minutes to go.

With the final few minutes playing out it seemed as if Hardly Athletic were happy to take the draw, defending deep, not shifting from their set defensive positions. With only a minute remaining Alex Day won the ball off of a Mini Mees player, he drilled the ball along the floor, across the pitch to Roberts, Hardly Athletic were looking to attack but this time Mini Mees had three players back. Roberts made a run down the wing, he was running into the corner and it looked as though he was trying to waste time. Townsend made a run forward which Roberts caught out of the corner of his eye, Roberts managed to cross the ball in between two Mini Mees players and Townsend nipped in front of the final Mini Mees player to smash the ball into the back of the net from two yards out! Hardly Athletic had completed the most unlikely of comebacks, they hardly deserved it based on the 40 minutes that had been played, but they found themselves in front with only a minute left on the clock.

In the final minute of the game there was a couple of goalmouth scrambles, which Hardly Athletic had Corfield to thank for preventing Mini Mees grabbing a late equaliser. It very nearly ended 4-4 towards the end of the game, the ball popped up to a Mini Mees player, he’d found a couple of yards of space only five yards from goal. It looked as if he tried to hit the ball with the outside of his boot when he could have easily passed it into the net, luckily for Hardly Athletic the ball struck the outside of the post and went out of play. After this, the final whistle blew.

After 40 minutes of being run ragged, Hardly Athletic had somehow come out with the win. They definitely deserved it, mainly for their stellar defensive performance, they could have easily folded under the pressure but due to their resilience, they managed to pull a result out of the bag. Hardly Athletic now only need 2 wins and a draw from their last 5 games to win the league title for the first time in their history.

Man of the Match: Chris Corfield. Corfield made a ridiculous amount of good saves in this match, many of which were from close range, I can’t remember many of them due to Mini Mees running the life out of me, but I remember thinking how well he played and how many good saves were made by the trusty goalkeeper.

League Table

Top Goalscorers

Johann Hoiby- 20

Clark Roberts- 18

James Lamb- 10

Mike Whitby- 9

James Townsend- 8

Alex Day- 3

Robert Bennett- 2

Perry Davies- 2

Own Goals- 1

Hardly Athletic (1^st) vs Finsbury Park Rangers (2^nd)

Today marked one of the most important fixtures in Hardly Athletic’s recent history, currently top of the table by 2 points with a game in hand, they were up against the team directly below them, Finsbury Park Rangers. Mike Whitby has now officially left Hardly Athletic to return to his home town, he would be replaced in the squad by new signing, Thomas Puchalla. This week captain Alex Day had a strong squad to choose from, Corfield started in goal, Townsend and Day would start in defence, Lamb and Hoiby on either wing with Roberts starting in the middle.

As in recent weeks, Hardly Athletic started off brightly, before long they found themselves one nil up, and deservedly so. Hoiby made one of his trademark mazy runs down the left hand side of the pitch, drawing the goalkeeper off of his line, Hoiby showed the vision to look up and see Lamb had made a run into the middle of the box; Hoiby cut the ball back to leave Lamb with an easy finish as he tapped in from close range.

Despite Rangers’ lofty position in the league table, they never seemed to show much of their quality in the opening stages, they were finding it difficult to break Hardly Athletic down, often relying on one of their players to take a long shot, all of which were blocked, saved or went wide. As Rangers continued to play poor football, Hardly Athletic were moving the ball around well and soon they were 2-0 up. Minutes earlier Lamb had hit the post from about ten yards out, but after some poor defending he was presented with an identical chance to double his tally and Hardly Athletic’s lead. He managed to intercept a pass between the two defenders, settle himself, and from a slight angle he managed to drill the ball into the bottom left hand corner to make it two nil.

The next few minutes were pretty tight with Rangers starting to build up some pressure on Hardly Athletic, Corfield forced into making a couple of good saves from one of Rangers’ defenders who had a very good shot on him. Despite this pressure it wasn’t long before Hardly Athletic made it 3-0. Hoiby made another run down the line, identical to the one that set up Lamb for the opening goal, Lamb had made a run into the middle of the box again but this time, from the tightest of angles, Hoiby managed to guide the ball past the Rangers goalkeeper with the outside of his right boot.

You could see Hardly Athletic were brimming with confidence now, they’d hardly expected they’d be three goals up in such a small space of time. This confidence may have affected the team slightly, as this confidence appeared to turn into complacency and Finsbury Park Rangers pulled a goal back. After some slack marking from Hardly Athletic, Finsbury Park Rangers’ danger man found himself free, Hardly Athletic didn’t close him down quick enough and the Rangers player drove the ball into the bottom corner, past a helpless Corfield dive making it 3-1.

The game became a lot tighter as Rangers were beginning to play good football; they knew if they could get one more goal, the momentum would be with them going into the second half. But moments before the whistle blew; Hardly Athletic had a huge amount of luck, which helped them increase their lead to 4-1. Before I describe the goal, on one of the two pitches there is a metal wire, it looks a bit like a clothesline, running all the way across the length of the pitch, about 10 feet off the ground, this piece of wire helped Hardly Athletic grab their fourth goal. New signing, Puchalla, had just come on, and with one of his first touches for Hardly Athletic he tried to cross the ball to Lamb who had moved into the middle of the pitch, it appeared the goalkeeper was coming out to catch the ball, but the ball struck the wire hanging overhead and dropped a lot sooner than it should have, with the goalkeeper off his line, Lamb managed to back heel the ball past the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner for his third and Hardly Athletic’s fourth of the night.

Despite the 4-1 lead, it was a pretty tough game so far, it felt as though Rangers were starting to get into their stride and if they could get an early goal, they’d be right back in the game. But this didn’t happen, Hardly Athletic ended up running away with it, the game finished up 11-2 to Hardly Athletic, there’s no way I can make the rest of this article tense or gripping to read, so I’m just going to describe the seven goals Hardly Athletic scored in the second half and be done with it.

This was Johann Hoiby’s last appearance for Hardly Athletic as he was heading back to Norway the following day; he decided to go out with a bang, grabbing five of the seven goals that Hardly Athletic scored in the second half.  The first of which he cut in from the left, going past one player and crashed the ball in off of the near post making it 5-1, the second came from good work by Roberts who found himself one on one with the goalkeeper, Roberts had a strike at goal which the keeper saved, Hoiby followed up the rebound, taking it past the goalkeeper and passing it into the net.

Hoiby’s third was courtesy of good work of their new signing Thomas Puchalla, after taking the ball down well Puchalla had a volley that was saved by the goalkeeper, the ball rebounded into Hoiby, the ball practically hit his foot and found its way into the bottom corner making it 7-1. The eighth goal was scored by Roberts who managed to find space and strike the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the goal; this was soon followed by Hoiby’s 5^th of the night. With his back to two defenders, in one movement he managed to turn both of them with a Cruyff turn and passed the ball across the goalkeeper into the right hand side of the goal, making it 9-1 to Hardly Athletic.

At this point Rangers got one back, the ball was free about ten yards out and one of their players hit a rasping shot from ten yards out to pull a goal back. But with the very next attack Hardly Athletic restored their eight goal cushion, Hardly Athletic had won a corner which Roberts took, he drilled the ball along the floor which was deflected in by the Rangers goalkeeper making it 10-2. The final goal, Hoiby received the ball in the middle of the pitch with the Rangers goalkeeper out of position, he struck the ball with great force down the middle of the goal, and the goalkeeper could do nothing about it.

In what was expected to be a tough game, Hardly Athletic showed why they’re at the top of the league, completely embarrassing the team directly below them and in turn, sending out a message to everyone in the league that they mean business. Tonight, Hardly Athletic took a huge step to becoming league champions.

Man of the Match: Johann Hoiby. Much like with Whitby in the last game, Hoiby appeared to save one of his best performances for his last game for Hardly Athletic. With 6 goals in the game it shows how much Hardly Athletic will miss him, going out on a high as their top goal scorer.

League Table

Top Goalscorers

Johann Hoiby- 20

Clark Roberts- 16

James Lamb- 10

Mike Whitby- 9

James Townsend- 6

Alex Day- 3

Robert Bennett-2

Perry Davies- 2

Own Goals- 1

Hardly Athletic (1^st) vs North London Magpies (8^th)

This week Hardly Athletic were up against North London Magpies, despite North London Magpie’s league position of 8^th, the two teams have always enjoyed a healthy rivalry. When both clubs first joined the league they had a couple of pretty tough games, with North London Magpies coming out on top. The Magpies are a physical team which always makes games slightly more difficult due to their physical presence, and when you look at their performances against some of the top sides this season, it’s a bit of surprise that they’re sitting in 8^th place.

This week Alex Day had a strong squad to pick from, Lamb was back after being out for two weeks with a knee injury and Rob Bennett was also back in the squad. Day chose to start with the team that beat HFC rather comprehensively by 13 goals to 3, two weeks ago. This meant that both Lamb and Bennett would start on the bench, Hardly Athletic lined up with Corfield in goal, Day and Townsend at the back and then Whitby, Roberts and Hoiby working as the front three.

Hardly Athletic started off well, getting the ball down, playing at a relatively slow tempo and getting used to playing together again after their week off. Whitby was at the centre of most of the play, creating a couple of chances in the early stages of the game, and it was Whitby that would open the scoring, albeit rather unexpectedly. Much like Townsend’s goal against HFC two weeks ago, Whitby had the ball deep in his own half, he saw Townsend make a run and tried to thread the ball through to him, the ball missed everybody and found its way into the bottom corner of the North London Magpie’s goal. Hardly Athletic had been rewarded with their positive start, the goal was lucky, but they had definitely deserved it.

As the game went on Hardly Athletic started to get frustrated, Alex Day had a couple of long shots to no avail, but then, completely against the run of play, North London Magpies got back into the game. From a goal kick the opposition played pretty directly out from the back, and within two or three passes, found themselves with a chance, one of the Magpie’s players got down the line and managed to thread it between Day and Townsend, the ball finding its way to the Magpie’s striker who comfortably slotted the ball past Corfield, rather unexpectedly, the two teams were level.

You could see this rocked Hardly Athletic, it looked as if they’d turned up expecting a relatively easy game, and with the early goal, maybe they thought they’d run away with it. Soon after the Magpie’s goal, Corfield was called into action again, being forced into making a good couple of saves from long range, North London Magpies weren’t going to roll over in the fashion that HFC did two weeks ago.

Day decided to make the first substitution, bringing Lamb on for himself in hope that his no nonsense style of defending would help to stabilise a fragile looking Hardly Athletic team. Soon after the substitution, Hardly Athletic had retaken the lead, after a good bit of play from Whitby, he found Roberts who made a break down the wing, with nobody in the box Townsend made a late run and Roberts drilled the ball across the goal, from a yard out Townsend got between two Magpie’s defenders and tapped home to make it 2-1 to Hardly Athletic.

After this Hardly Athletic stamped their authority on the game, there was ten minutes until half time and they started playing their best football. Hoiby, Whitby and Roberts were showing great movement, making it easy for Lamb and Townsend to pick out the passes that would open the Magpie’s up. There were several chances to go 3-1 up, the most notable was when Roberts found himself one on one with the goalkeeper, about six yards from goal and just slid the ball past the post, it was starting to feel like it would be one of those days where things just weren’t going to be easy, no matter how well Hardly Athletic played.

With only five minutes remaining before half time North London Magpies created a rare chance, which would get them back into the game for the second time. After a relatively simple move, the Magpies striker found himself about ten yards from goal with Lamb and Townsend in front of him. The player shifted the ball onto his right foot and as Lamb closed him down he drilled it through his legs, the ball finding its way into the bottom corner of the Hardly Athletic net, leaving Corfield with no chance, it was 2-2.

Hardly Athletic were determined to go in with the lead at the break, Whitby having several chances to score but the North London Magpies goalkeeper was on top form, making a string of excellent saves to keep Hardly Athletic at bay. Lamb then had a chance that summed up Hardly Athletic’s first half, he received the ball from Townsend, skipped past one of the Magpies players, and took a shot about 15 yards from goal, the ball cannoned off of the inside of the left hand post, and somehow went out for a throw in, it just seemed like nothing was going Hardly Athletic’s way today.

With only a minute left of the first half Hardly Athletic had another chance, Lamb received the ball from Hoiby in lots of space, Whitby was unmarked in front of goal but there were two defenders in front of him, about a metre apart, Lamb managed to drill a pass between the two defenders, Whitby trapped the ball, he turned and from 6 yards the goalkeeper made a fantastic save, but Whitby was alert and at the second attempt stroked the ball under the goalkeeper to make it 3-2 to Hardly Athletic and the referee blew for half time.

During the break Day made a change, bringing Bennett on for Roberts, Hoiby moved onto the left hand-side and Bennett took up his position on the right. The second half was a much tighter affair, Whitby sat a bit deeper to give more protection to Lamb and Townsend, North London Magpies were having more possession but with Hardly Athletic’s more defensive approach, they were finding it impossible to make any good chances, often resorting to shooting from long range.

After a relatively quiet first half, Hoiby started to get into his stride, producing a few good attacking runs but often finding a lack of support in the box due to Hardly Athletic’s defensive approach, but he’d soon be rewarded for his efforts. After a sloppy piece of play from the Magpie’s, Hoiby found the ball at his feet about 12 yards from goal, with the goalkeeper out of position, Hoiby drilled the ball into the middle of the goal with his trusty right foot, making it 4-2, and for the first time in the game, he’d given Hardly Athletic a two goal cushion, this seemed to knock the stuffing out of a resilient North London Magpies side.

After this Day brought himself on for Whitby, he moved a relatively fresh Lamb into the middle of the park, and put himself in defence with Townsend. Lamb made it difficult for the Magpies to build from the back, having had little to do in the second half so far; he had a lot left in his legs to chase the ball down. For the next ten minutes not much happened, it looked as if North London Magpies had been run into the ground and Hardly Athletic were content with their two goal lead. The Magpies had a couple of half chances, as did Lamb, both of which he blazed hopelessly over the bar.

After a couple more substitutions by Day, Hardly Athletic wrapped the game up, in a swift attacking move Lamb threaded a difficult ball through to Whitby, who played a first time pass to Roberts who found Townsend as he broke down the wing, and with his first touch he slammed the ball across the goalkeeper into the bottom corner, making it 5-2 to Hardly Athletic, putting them well and truly out of sight.

The final whistle blew, and although the win wasn’t as convincing as Hardly Athletic had hoped, the main thing was they’d got the win, solidifying their position at the top of the table, making it nine games unbeaten this season. Hardly Athletic face Finsbury Park Rangers next week who are second in the league, they’ll need to play better than this if they wish to keep this run going.

Man of the Match: Mike Whitby. Whitby was at the centre of the majority of Hardly Athletic’s attacking moves and got a crucial goal before half time. This may have been Whitby’s final game for Hardly Athletic as he’s moving back to his home town soon, he will be missed as he regularly produces performances like this, Hardly Athletic’s new signing, Thomas Puchalla, will have a lot to do if he’s to fill Whitby’s shoes. No pressure.

League Table

Top Goalscorers

Clark Roberts- 14

Johann Hoiby- 14

Mike Whitby- 9

James Lamb- 7

James Townsend- 6

Alex Day- 3

Robert Bennett- 2

Perry Davies- 2

Own Goals- 1

Hardly Athletic (1st) vs HFC (9th)

Hardly Athletic were hoping for a slightly easier game this week, after the unexpected scare they faced last week when they played against 3 Lions. There was a good chance of this easy game coming this week as they were playing the team at the bottom of the league, HFC. Hardly Athletic were left with just the six players tonight as James Lamb was out injured and Rob Bennett had other commitments to attend to. This left Captain Alex Day with a squad of himself, Chris Corfield, James Townsend, Clark Roberts, Johann Hoiby and the returning Mike Whitby to choose from.

The game started off well for Hardly Athletic; uncharacteristically they got off to a quick start with the first attack of the game producing a goal. After winning the ball back from the opposition, Hoiby turned and took a shot from the halfway line, the ball passed through a crowd of bodies, striking one of HFC’s players on the way through, taking the ball past the goalkeeper who had already started to dive in the opposite direction, one nil to Hardly Athletic and they’d got off to the start they were looking for.

After this good start Hardly Athletic came under some pressure from HFC, Chris Corfield was forced into making two good saves, one with his feet, the other a dive to his right hand side to deny a formidable looking HFC. As the game went on Hardly Athletic had a good couple of chances to make it two nil, Townsend managed to find some space and struck a shot destined for the top corner but the keeper managed to palm it away. Soon after this, Roberts found himself one on one with the HFC goalkeeper and crashed the ball off the post, you could see Hardly Athletic were desperate to get this two goal cushion.

Before long Townsend had made it two nil to Hardly Athletic. Roberts took a throw in, Townsend was confronted with two HFC defenders, he went one way, dragged the ball back, span round a bit, I think he confused HFC as much as he confused me, and then followed this up with a well placed drive into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Immediately after this goal Hoiby and Roberts exchanged a one two, the ball ending up at Hoiby’s feet and forcing another good save from the HFC goalkeeper.

Following this dominance by Hardly Athletic, HFC started to get things back together, after a good piece of play they forced a double save out of Corfield, who reacted brilliantly to get up to make the save at the second time of asking. It appeared that HFC would need to put these chances away if they were to get anything out of this game as Hardly Athletic started to create yet more chances. After HFC spent too much time on the ball, Townsend managed to close the ball down, winning it back and feeding it into Roberts, who once again, struck the post with his effort. From this HFC came back strongly, on the very next attack HFC had a shot which was partially saved by Corfield, the ball seemed to have just squirmed past him and an HFC player was about to tap in, but Townsend managed to sweep the ball off the line, knocking it out for a throw in.

HFC were looking as though they were coming back into the game, but after a good move from Hardly Athletic, it seemed as if they were getting further and further out of reach. Day received the ball from a goal kick, went past one player and fed the ball into Roberts, who managed to find himself some space, went past another player and passed the ball into the right hand side of the goal to make it three nil to Hardly Athletic.

From this point it appeared Hardly Athletic became a bit complacent, after some sloppy play by Hardly Athletic, HFC found themselves one on one with Corfield, the HFC player made no mistake, drilling the ball across Corfield from a difficult angle, making it three one, with half time fast approaching it looked as if HFC were going to have some momentum going into half time, but this wasn't to be.

Immediately from the goal kick Hardly Athletic regained their three goal advantage, Corfield rolled the ball out to Townsend, who passed the ball forward to Whitby from well within his own half, Whitby showed great awareness to step over the ball and let it run through his legs and the ball found its way into the bottom corner of the net, giving Townsend his second goal of the game. Straight from the HFC goal kick Hoiby intercepted the pass out from the HFC goalkeeper, fed the ball into Roberts who curled the ball around the HFC goalkeeper to make it 5-1, one minute before half time it was 3-1, but after a combination of good play from Hardly Athletic and sloppy play from HFC it was 5-1 going into the break.

After the break HFC started off the stronger of the two teams, forcing Corfield into an early save, and not soon after going close, curling the ball around the post from close range, HFC had come out all guns blazing. With all the attacking HFC had been doing it appeared they’d forgot about their defensive responsibilities, they’d left Hoiby unmarked in the middle of the pitch, Corfield found him with a quick throw out to him, Hoiby turned had a couple of seconds to steady himself and drilled the ball through the goalkeeper, the strike didn’t find the corner of the net but the keeper looked as if he couldn’t handle the pace of the shot, this made it six one to Hardly Athletic.

Hardly Athletic’s sixth goal seemed to kill any hope that HFC had of staging a comeback, they’d stopped playing as a team, a single player would often try to take on the whole of Hardly Athletic by themselves, often resulting in a hopeless shot from range, just handing possession back to Hardly Athletic.

Hardly Athletic continued their dominance as they created another chance, Day played a good through ball to Hoiby, who took a touch, went past an HFC player and placed the ball towards the bottom corner, only for the HFC goalkeeper to get across and make a good save to his left hand side. The goal to follow this was probably the goal of the game, Day picked up the ball in the bottom corner of the pitch and switched it to an unmarked Whitby who was positioned in the opposite corner of the pitch, Whitby took the ball down with one touch and played the ball inside to Roberts, Roberts returned the ball immediately, playing a one touch one-two between two HFC players and Whitby just stroked the ball past the HFC goalkeeper from a tight angle to make it seven one to Hardly Atheltic.

After this Townsend had a good chance to get his hat trick, volleying the ball from about twenty yards out, the goalkeeper made a good save to keep the ball out, tipping it onto the post and out for a throw in. After a bit of pressure from HFC, Hardly Athletic scored a goal very similar to their seventh. Townsend won the ball on the right side of the pitch, switched it to the opposite corner, finding the feet of Hoiby, Hoiby then played the ball into a marked Roberts, who dummied his first shot onto his left foot and then stroked the ball into the corner from close range with his left foot, this was truly great football from Hardly Athletic.

Following this Corfield made a good save once again from an HFC attack, holding onto the ball in the process, with HFC more or less neglecting their defensive responsibilities now, Corfield rolled the ball out to Whitby who found himself with one man to beat, Whitby effortlessly rolled the ball around the last defender and then placed the ball across the goalkeeper into the bottom corner, nine one. HFC were to get a goal back soon after this, after a goal mouth scramble, involving two clearances off the line, the ball dropped to an HFC player who side footed the ball into the left corner of the goal making it nine two.

HFC pushed on, forcing Whitby to clear another shot off of the line, immediately from this an attack from Hardly Athletic developed, after a few intricate passes the ball found its way to Whitby who sold the HFC defender a dummy and drilled the ball past the HFC goalkeeper with his left foot to make it ten two to Hardly Athletic. HFC came back with their ever-present attacking style of football forcing two good saves out of Corfield, the second of which was struck with a lot of pace, Corfield doing well to palm the ball away. From this save Townsend won the ball back from the two HFC players in front of him, skipped between them, managed to find a way past the last HFC defender with a great piece of skill and then drove the ball home from about 15 yards to cap off a magnificent solo effort.

HFC were to grab a goal back with minutes remaining making it 11-3, a scuffed effort from about eight yards out in the middle of the goal found its way into the bottom left hand corner, striking the inside of the post on the way into the net. Hardly Athletic were to finish off in style with two late goals, the first of which Townsend done well to win the ball back from an HFC player, hit a powerful shot which the goalkeeper tipped onto the post, but Whitby followed up and volleyed in from about 8 yards out. The final goal of the game featured good play between Hoiby, Roberts and Whitby with some quick one touch passing, resulting in Whitby stroking the ball home to make it 13-3, soon after the referee blew his whistle to end proceedings, much to the delight of HFC.

Man of the Match: James Townsend, the newest player to the team, had taken a while to settle in but played tremendously today, he defended well and managed to score a hat trick from defence, with all three goals extremely well taken. He was also the catalyst that started a lot of the attacks from some good closing down, enabling the likes of Hoiby, Roberts and Whitby to receive the ball when HFC were out of position.

League Table

Top Goalscorers

Clark Roberts- 14

Johann Hoiby- 13

James Lamb- 7

Mike Whitby- 7

James Townsend- 4

Alex Day- 3

Robert Bennett- 2

Perry Davies- 2

Own Goals- 1

Hardly Athletic (1st) vs 3 Lions (5th)

Hardly Athletic were looking to keep their good run of form going against a mid-table 3 Lions side, after a few weeks of tough games, Hardly Athletic would have been hoping for an easy ride this week. Clark Roberts managed to get his Uni work done (barely, apparently) which saw him return to the side, but Harris Elijah was absent this week leaving Alex Day with a squad of Chris Corfield, James Townsend, James Lamb, Johann Hoiby, Clark Roberts and Robert Bennett to choose from. Day started with Corfield in goal, himself and Townsend at the back, with Lamb, Hoiby and Clark sitting in front of them.

As ever with Hardly Athletic, the game started slowly, with Hardly’s pressing play, 3 Lions struggled to string a succession of passes together. Hardly Athletic also struggled in what was a pretty cagey first few minutes. The best of the chances came to 3 Lions in the opening stages, one player in particular on the 3 Lions team impressing, testing Corfield on a couple of occasions from long range, but Hardly Athletic were soon to get into their stride.

Corfield played the ball out from goal and managed to find Townsend, the ball was played across field to Day who found himself with an open path to goal about 25 yards out. Day took a couple of strides forward and drilled the ball into the corner past the despairing dive of the 3 Lions goalkeeper, Hardly Athletic had grabbed the important opener, and looked better for it. Both sides had been pretty equal to each other in the opening stages, so this goal was a massive boost to Hardly Athletic.

Hardly Athletic were looking much more lively after the first goal, playing some good football, Lamb, Hoiby and Roberts all getting chances to score in a frantic couple of minutes. After another 3 Lions attack Corfield collected the ball and saw an opportunity for a counter attack, as many of the 3 Lions players were out of position. After a couple of quick passes the ball found its way to Hoiby who, five yards from goal, was confronted by two defenders, he had great vision to pick out an unmarked Lamb in the middle of the goal, who slotted home with his right foot from a couple of yards out. Two nil to Hardly Athletic and they were starting to look comfortable.

As the half went on 3 Lions were starting to look more dangerous, they were moving the ball around quite well, making it difficult for Hardly Athletic to gain possession of the ball. In the next few minutes Corfield made a couple of great saves, one with his feet, the other he had to change direction after the ball had struck a player on the way through to goal, just tipping it round the post for a corner. 3 Lions didn’t look like they were going to go down without a fight.

After building up some pressure on Hardly Athletic, 3 Lions made a poor mistake, allowing Hardly Athletic to get that built up pressure off of their shoulders. From a goal kick the 3 Lions goalkeeper distributed the ball poorly, Roberts managed to close down the player who received the ball, and from the tackle the ball ended up at Lamb’s feet, after one touch to get it out from under his feet, Lamb placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner from 15 yards out to make it 3-0 to Hardly Athletic, with half time approaching.

There was only a minute or so until half time and it appeared 3 Lions were starting to lose their discipline, committing a few needless fouls in various areas of the pitch. From the last of these free kicks Hoiby saw an opportunity to take a quick one, feeding the ball into Roberts who turned impressively towards goal, and with his next touch he managed to drill the ball past the goalkeeper into the bottom right hand corner, giving Hardly Athletic a comfortable lead at the break.

It may have been 4-0 at half time but the score line did not reflect how the game had gone. 3 Lions had moved the ball well creating a couple of good chances themselves, and probably deserved to be within a couple of goals of Hardly Athletic, and if it wasn’t for the in-form Corfield, it could well have been a different story at half time. At the break Day decided he needed a breather, so he brought on Bennett to replace him, moving Bennett to the right hand side with Lamb dropping into defence for the second half.

The second half began poorly for Hardly Athletic, one of the 3 Lions players in particular had been threatening to open them up in the first half on numerous occasions, and it didn’t take long for him to do so in the second half. From a throw in he received the ball and managed to do the sort of skill that you need an action replay for to actually know what he did. This took him past Townsend and Bennett simultaneously and he crashed the ball past Corfield into the top corner from about 12 yards out. Not even Petr Cech would have saved it.

Immediately from the goal kick following the goal, the ball was rolled out to Townsend, looking up he had no options on, and there was little movement to go with it, with two of the 3 Lions players closing in on him he tried to thread a pass through to Roberts but the ball got cut out by the player who had just scored for the 3 Lions, after one touch to steady himself he slotted it past Corfield into the bottom right hand corner to make it 4-2. Cracks were starting to show in Hardly Athletic.

In the five minutes that followed, Hardly Athletic faced a barrage of attacks on their goal; the only thing keeping 3 Lions out was Corfield. In these five minutes he made several important saves to keep Hardly Athletic 2 goals ahead. The chance that I remember well, the 3 Lions goal scorer managed to skip past Lamb and Day, who had just come on for Townsend, he found himself two yards from goal and Corfield stuck a foot out to deny him his hat trick. You could tell by the look on their faces, Hardly Athletic wanted this game to end as soon as possible, 3 Lions seemed to have found an extra gear in this second half.

3 Lions’ pressure soon paid off, after another intricate piece of skill, the 3 Lions player managed to drill another shot low past the diving Corfield, once again, absolutely nothing could have been done to stop the shot, it was hit with a tremendous amount of pace. This player was new to 3 Lions and it was looking like he was turning 3 Lions into a winning force all by himself.

After the third  3 Lions goal Hardly Athletic started to play a little better, creating a couple of half chances in which Bennett could only find the side netting. Hardly Athletic desperately needed a goal to relieve some of the pressure that 3 Lions had built up. Hardly Athletic had an opportunity to break forward and attack, Hoiby was free on the left hand side, Roberts managed to find him with a well placed pass, Hoiby came inside onto his right foot and managed to place it across the goalkeeper into the far right corner of the goal. After Hoiby struck to make it 5-3 it appeared as if a massive weight had been lifted off of Hardly Athletic’s shoulders, after restoring the two goal lead you could see the relief on some of the players faces. This relief would not last for long though.

From the resulting ball out from the 3 Lions goalkeeper, the 3 Lions player who had already scored a hat trick took control of the ball, after ghosting past Bennett he cut inside, managing to bend the ball with immense power around an on-coming Day and through the legs of Lamb who had retreated onto the back post making it 5-4 to Hardly Athletic. 3 Lions were looking favourites to nick it with just over five minutes to go.

Both sides had opportunities to grab a goal in the dying stages of the game, but the decisive goal of the game came from a free kick about fifteen yards from goal. 3 Lions had been fouling persistently throughout the game, and this would eventually be their downfall. Roberts quickly placed the ball down, but a 3 Lions player placed themselves within 2 yards of the free kick, Roberts dummied the shot, which caused the 3 Lions player to flinch, with this a gap had opened up into the bottom left hand corner of the goal, Roberts struck the ball and it found its way into the net off the post to make it 6-4 to Hardly Athletic with only minutes left to play.

As the referee signalled there was only a minute left, 3 Lions looked as though they had nothing left to give, and with the final attack of the game, Clark Roberts scored a very impressive goal. The ball got played over the top to him, he took it on the chest, flicked it over the on-coming defender and then with the outside of his boot placed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net to make it 7-4 to Hardly Athletic, and the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

After a scare in the second half Hardly Athletic managed to pull together to continue their good start to the season. It’s now seven games unbeaten; and they sit on top of the league with a game in hand on the team directly below them. Just to let you know, it was revealed after the game that the player that demolished Hardly Athletic in the second half was a player they’d brought in from Millwall academy in an attempt to improve their chances of winning. Better luck next time.

Man of the Match: Chris Corfield. If it wasn’t for some of Chris Corfield’s heroic saves, the outcome of the game could have been very different. It was more his saves in the first half that won Hardly Athletic the game, the four goal cushion at half time being the main reason that Hardly managed to hold on to their lead in the second half.

League Table

Top Goalscorers

Johann Hoiby- 11

Clark Roberts- 11

James Lamb- 7

Alex Day- 3

Mike Whitby- 2

Robert Bennett- 2

Perry Davies- 2

James Townsend- 1

Own Goals- 1

Hardly Athletic (2^nd) vs Your Mum’s Athletic (4^th)

Hardly Athletic returned to action this week after two weeks off, after a rather forgettable 0-0 draw against Wilberforce Wanderers three weeks ago, Hardly Athletic were looking to push on and try to get back to winning ways against Your Mum’s Athletic. Due to a lack of planning by top goal scorer Clark Roberts, he found himself buried in Uni work, so was unavailable for this week’s match, Mike Whitby is still unavailable leaving captain Alex Day with a squad of himself, Chris Corfield, James Townsend, Robert Bennett, Johann Hoiby, James Lamb and Harris Elijah to choose from.

Alex Day started with Chris Corfield in goal, James Townsend and himself at the back, with Johann Hoiby and Harris Elijah on either wing, James Lamb was asked to fill in for Clark Roberts in the middle of the park, he would have a lot of work to do in order to fill the boots of Hardly Athletic’s leading goal scorer.

The game started off relatively slowly, Hardly Athletic playing their usual pressurising football, forcing Your Mum’s Athletic into numerous mistakes early on, the game took a while to get going, it appeared that both teams were a little rusty after two weeks out. After a scrappy opening five minutes Hardly Athletic made the breakthrough, after a goal kick from Corfield, Lamb was dispossessed, after chasing the man down he managed to win it back, in turn he played a hopeful pass towards Elijah, it looked as if the ball was going out of play but Elijah managed to cut the ball back across goal in between two defenders, and Lamb managed to get a knee to the ball and guided it into the net, one nil to Hardly Athletic.

This goal appeared to help Hardly Athletic get into their stride, after a shaky start their passes were starting to link together with more fluidity, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Hardly Athletic were going to score again. They soon got their chance, Hardly had won a corner after a shot was deflected out of play, despite the Your Mum’s Athletic defender standing only a couple of feet away from the corner, Lamb managed to thread the ball through the defenders legs, the ball ran across goal as everybody missed it, all it needed was a touch and Hardly Athletic could have been two nil up.

Your Mum’s Athletic were starting to put the pressure on Hardly Athletic now, creating several half chances that were well dealt with by the goalkeeper Chris Corfield and the new defensive partnership of Townsend and Day, several blocks and saves were made in a tense passage of play. The second goal of the game did well to represent the scrappiness of the match, with five minutes to go before half time the ball dropped to Johann Hoiby, he managed to shift the ball onto his right foot and took a shot at goal, the ball took a wicked deflection, the goalkeeper was already committed to the save, having already dived to his left, the ball bounced into the opposite corner with the keeper looking on in despair, two nil to Hardly Athletic, with half time approaching, they looked strong favourites.

Just a minute before half time Your Mum’s Athletic were handed a lifeline, after one of their players tried to play a cross-field ball, Hoiby stuck a leg out in an attempt to intercept it, the ball skewed off his right boot towards his own goal, curling round Corfield has he tried desperately to parry the ball away. Hoiby had just scored one of the goals of the season, but sadly for Hardly Athletic, it was at the wrong end. After a fairly even contest the Hardly Athletic went in two one up at the break.

At half time Alex Day decided to make a change, he would brought Robert Bennett on for Harris Elijah to freshen things up, Hardly Athletic had done OK, but you felt they weren’t quite hitting their form of the first part of the season, this may have been due to the absence of leading goal scorer Roberts, it may have been due to the two week break that had preceded this match, whatever it was, you felt that Hardly would have to step it up a gear in the next half if they were to hold onto this lead.

Hardly Athletic came flying out of the blocks, the front three working particularly hard to win the ball back from Your Mum’s Athletic to try and thwart any attempt to forge an attack. This pressure reaped rewards almost immediately, after a ball was played through the Your Mum’s Athletic goalkeeper rushed out of his area, in the rules of six a side this is deemed as a penalty, something the opposition weren’t too pleased about, after a few minutes of complaining to the ref Hoiby took it upon himself to take the penalty kick, with one step he guided the ball to the goalkeepers left hand side, making it three one to Hardly Athletic early on in the second half.

After the penalty decision it appeared as though Your Mum’s Athletic lost their way slightly, the next few minutes saw a lot of petty fouls on the Hardly Athletic players, they still seemed to be agitated by the decision. This seemed to spur them on slightly as they did have their chances to pull a goal back, the only thing that was stopping them was a few good saves from Corfield, and whilst briefly being moved into defence, Lamb cleared a shot off the line that was destined for the top corner.

With ten minutes to go, Hardly Athletic put the game to bed, after some good build up play, Lamb found himself through on goal with just a defender to beat, after shifting the ball to the right and taking a shot the keeper saved, the ball dropped to Lamb again who volleyed it straight at the goalkeeper, the ball then found its way to Bennett who had the vision to pick out Lamb in the middle of the area, a few yards from goal, and finished with his left foot to make it four one to Hardly Athletic.

With a three goal cushion you could see that Hardly Athletic were content with defending their lead, sitting back, inviting Your Mum’s Athletic onto them who had run out of ideas going forward, Hardly Athletic had put together such a good defensive display it seemed as if the opposition were never going to score. As the game drew to a close Your Mum’s Athletic were left short at the back, after a swift counter attack the ball found its way to Johann Hoiby who dispatched the ball past the goalkeeper to make it five one and job well done for Hardly Athletic.

The final whistle went soon after and Hardly Athletic had made the team that were placed 4^th in the league at the start of play look relatively average, continuing their unbeaten start to the season. This can be credited to their defensive record so far this season, in 240 minutes of football they have only conceded 9 goals, if you go back to last season, it’s 9 goals in 320 minutes of six a side football, quite an outstanding statistic.

Man of the Match: Johann Hoiby. After returning from injury Hoiby did well to grab a well deserved hat trick, with the absence of Roberts, Hoiby needed to take responsibility to score goals for the team; he did so in a confident fashion, even taking a bit of time to score for the other team too.

League Table


Will be up in the morning, the organisers aren't as keen as me.


Top Goalscorers


Johann Hoiby-10
Clark Roberts- 8
James Lamb- 5
Mike Whitby- 2
Robert Bennett- 2
Alex Day- 2
Perry Davies- 2
James Townsend-1
Own Goals- 1


Hardly Athletic (2^nd) vs Finsbury Park Rangers (1^st)

Last week was Hardly Athletic’s week off, it came in good time too, Johann Hoiby needed another week off to make sure he was fully fit for Hardly Athletic’s crunch game against title challengers Finsbury Park Rangers. Here’s a brief update on what happened last week.

In the early kick offs Finsbury Park Rangers and Wilberforce Wanderers were looking to put pressure on Hardly Athletic by winning their games this week. Finsbury Park Rangers overcame a solid Mini Mees side, winning 3-2 in a tight encounter, but in one of the shocks of the season Wilberforce Wanderers ended up losing 4-2 to the struggling Dyslexia United.

In the later kick offs, Your Mum’s Athletic capitalised on Wilberforce’s slip up and managed to close the gap by comfortably beating 3 Lions by 8 goals to 4, the other match featured the two sides who are currently rock bottom, HFC and North London Magpies were embroiled in a very close game, HFC eventually winning by 5 goals to 4.

This would leave the league table looking like this:

Hardly Athletic go into this game one point behind Finsbury Park Rangers with a game in hand, if Hardly Athletic were to win this, they’d be putting themselves in a great position early on in the season. Hardly weren’t without their problems though, James Townsend has gone AWOL, rumour has it that he’s shopping in New York, whilst Michael Whitby could not make it to the game due to other commitments at West Ham United. Johann Hoiby’s just coming back from his ankle injury, so there are question marks over the Norwegian winger’s fitness. Hardly Athletic lined up with Chris Corfield in goal, James Lamb and Alex Day playing at the back, with Perry Davies and Johann Hoiby on either wing along with Clarke Roberts in the middle of the park, Rob Bennett would start on the bench.

The match started out very tight, there seemed to be a lack of urgency about Hardly Athletic, maybe it was because they’d had a week off, but Finsbury Park Rangers were enjoying a lot of possession and relatively comfortably. Luckily for Hardly Athletic in these first five minutes Finsbury Park Rangers couldn’t create any meaningful chances, often resorting to the odd long shot which Corfield dealt with easily, or long balls which were easily cut out by Day and Lamb.

In the first five minutes Rangers had a lot of corners as a result of the pressure they were putting Hardly Athletic under, from one of these corners Hardly’s marking was far too slack and Rangers nearly made the breakthrough. The ball was cut back to an unmarked Rangers player who struck the ball firmly, Corfield managed to get a finger tip to the ball and Lamb cleared off the line as another Rangers player was bearing down on him.

After this brief scare Hardly started to look more like the team that had played so well to get to the top of the Islington 6-a-side league, after a sustained amount of pressure, the captain, Alex Day, scored a goal that typifies the way Hardly Athletic play. Rangers were looking for a way out from defence, but after a great bit of pressure from Day, he managed to get the tackle in about ten yards from goal, the ball bobbled up into the air and Day struck a sweet volley past the goalkeeper to make it 1-0. After Hardly Athletic’s slow start, this goal would have come as a massive relief.

Despite conceding the goal Finsbury Park Rangers just kept on coming, they weren’t fazed by conceding the first goal, and some solid defending from Day and Lamb, accompanied by some great saves from Corfield were keeping Hardly Athletic’s lead intact. The pressure was starting to tell though as there was a defensive mix up, Corfield came for the ball and Lamb didn't hear his call, heading the ball over the bar and out for a needless corner, you feel as if Hardly need another goal just to give them a bit of comfort and settle their nerves.

Towards the end of the second half Hardly Athletic found the goal they were so desperately looking for, after a good bit of play from a goal kick, Johann Hoiby found himself with two men to beat, he managed to skip past both of them and slot the ball underneath the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 to Hardly Athletic, you could sense the relief in the players as they doubled their lead. But there is a well known saying in football, ‘You’re at your weakest when you’ve just scored,’ and this was all to evident moments after Hardly Athletic’s second goal. Rangers left sided defender received the ball from his goalkeeper and played a superb cross-field ball to his teammate, and with his first touch slammed the ball past Chris Corfield to reduce the deficit back to one goal, it was 2-1 at half time.

Hardly Athletic knew the second half was going to be tough, and at half time Alex Day decided to make a change, Rob Bennett was coming on to replace Perry Davies, some fresh legs were definitely needed if Hardly were to get anything out of this game.

Hardly Athletic started the second half well, they were playing a lot more fluently, getting the ball down and playing it into feet, for the first five minutes there weren’t any clear cut chances for either team, Hardly Athletic refused to commit too many men forward, and Rangers seemed wary of conceding a third goal. As the game went on Finsbury Park began to enjoy a bit more possession, but the front three for Hardly Athletic were doing a superb job of closing the opposition down, repeatedly forcing mistakes out of them. The only threat was the odd hopeful long range effort from Rangers players who seemed to be running out of ideas; they couldn’t seem to find a way past the solid trio of Day, Lamb and Corfield.

It was getting to a point in the game where you sensed the next goal would be absolutely crucial in deciding who would win the game, and with ten minutes to go, Hardly Athletic grabbed their third. In another very Hardly Athletic type goal, the Rangers keeper played the ball out to his defender, who under pressure from Bennett and Roberts, lost control of the ball, the clinical Roberts managed to get onto the end of it and tuck the ball into the far left hand corner to make it 3-1 to Hardly Athletic.

This is the point of the game where you would expect Hardly Athletic to sit back and absorb the pressure for the final few minutes and hold onto their two goal advantage, but it seemed as though the Rangers players were tiring. In the last ten minutes Roberts, Bennett and Hoiby all had good chances to add to Hardly Athletic’s lead, Lamb and Day also had good opportunities from long distance, Hardly could have easily added another three goals to their tally. In the final five minutes, Rangers put pressure on Hardly Athletic, but could find no way to break them down, Hardly Athletic had defended from the front today, I believe this is the reason that they managed to keep their winning streak going and move to the top of the league.

Man of the Match: It was hard to choose because everybody played well but I’m going to have to go with Rob Bennett, after coming off the bench he did a superb job of closing down players and didn’t stop running for the full 20 minutes he was on the pitch. He also managed to create a couple of chances for Hardly Athletic as well as nearly score one for himself.

League Table

Top Goalscorers

Clark Roberts- 8

Johann Hoiby- 7

James Lamb- 3

Mike Whitby- 2

Robert Bennett- 2

Perry Davies- 2

Alex Day- 2

James Townsend- 1

Own Goals- 1

FC Hardly Athletic (1^st) vs HFC (9^th)

Going into this game, the pressure was all on Hardly Athletic. After a good start to the new season they’ve found themselves at the top of the league after two assured performances, now they were coming up against a new HFC side who have found it tough in their first season of 6 a side football, losing their first two games. Hardly Athletic weren’t in the best shape going into the game though, Mike Whitby was unavailable, Johann Hoiby was out injured after straining his ankle in the last game and captain Alex Day was returning after a three week layoff.

Hardly Athletic lined up with Chris Corfield in goal, James Townsend and James Lamb continued in defence, and they were forced into a new look front line of Alex Day, Robert Bennett and Clark Roberts, a recently re-signed Perry Davies was on the bench. It wasn’t the strongest side available, but definitely one capable of doing a job and helping to continue Hardly Athletic’s great start to the season.

The game started slowly, both teams struggled to put a string of passes together, most moves ending with a poor shot from distance. Hardly Athletic were struggling to find their shape, the combination of an unfamiliar starting line-up and not knowing what to expect from this new HFC side, were likely reasons for this slow start. The opening goal of the game mirrored the poor, uneventful start. The ball was put out of play for a throw in, Rob Bennett picked the ball up and threw it into the crowded penalty area, Alex Day took a swipe at the ball and after two ricochets, the ball nestled into the bottom corner, one nil to Hardly Athletic.

This first goal gave Hardly Athletic a bit more confidence, the passing was becoming more fluid, they looked more confident on the ball. After a fluid attacking move Hardly Athletic had won a corner, Rob Bennett played the ball into the box and the ball landed at the feet of an unmarked Clark Roberts, he struck the ball, it was destined for the bottom corner but it struck James Townsend, blocking the balls route to goal. Townsend managed to swivel onto his right foot and get a shot away, but that was blocked too, after a second attempt with his left he managed to power the ball through the defence to make it two nil to Hardly Athletic, this also marked Townsends first goal for his new club.

After the second goal had went in Hardly Athletic dominated the rest of the first half, HFC couldn’t cope with the amount of pressure they were being put under, through their frustration they were losing their shape. After another HFC mistake the ball found its way to Clark Roberts, he managed to skip between two defenders and power the ball into the top corner, Hardly Athletic were starting to run away with this now as it seemed HFC heads were dropping. Within the next five minutes Roberts showed why he was the leading goal scorer last season, adding two more goals before half time. The first came when the ball was laid into him, and from about 20 yards he turned and drove the ball with his right foot goal-wards, the keeper may have been able to do better, the resulting shot going through his legs, but nonetheless it was a good strike. The fifth goal of the night also rounded off Roberts’ hat-trick, after a quick throw in from Townsend, Bennett made a run down the line, skipping past one defender and managed to get the ball into the box, Roberts was on hand to tap in and make it 7 goals in 3 games. So at half time it was Hardly Athletic 5 HFC 0.

At half time Alex Day decided to make a couple of changes, he brought on Perry Davies for Rob Bennett and decided to move himself into defence and gave James Lamb a chance to play on the front line, Lamb’s impact was instant. Soon after kick off Alex Day laid the ball down the line to James Lamb, he managed to skip past two players before crossing the ball with his left foot for Perry Davies to tap into an open net. Immediately after that HFC tried attacking down the right hand side, James Lamb went in for the tackle and won the ball, went past one player and was one on one with the goalkeeper. The HFC goalkeeper managed to save Lamb’s resulting shot but it wasn’t a convincing parry, the ball came back and hit Lamb in the stomach, the ball looped over the goalkeeper, who was still lying on the floor, and Perry Davies tapped in to make it seven nil to Hardly Athletic.

The game went quiet for a while after that, HFC were looking to get the ball down and play a bit more, often resulting in nothing as they couldn’t find a way through a solid Hardly Athletic. Then out of nowhere Hardly Athletic were another goal to the good, Alex Day picked the ball up from defence, an exhausted HFC couldn’t be bothered to close him down, so from just under 20 yards, Day curled the ball in under the goalkeeper to add to HFC’s misery. At this point there was about ten minutes left, and with Johann Hoiby looking on from the sidelines, despite his injury, he couldn’t resist getting a piece of the action. He pulled off his shirt and trousers to reveal his Hardly Athletic kit, and it didn’t take long for Hoiby to make his impact. After some sloppy play from HFC’s defence, Johann Hoiby completely forgot that before the game he ‘couldn’t run on his left ankle’ and managed to nip in between the two defenders and score Hardly Athletic’s ninth goal, seconds after coming on.

Just when it looked like HFC had given up all hope, they managed to get a bit of luck. After a fairly simple move, an HFC player had a shot from about 15 yards, it wasn’t hit well but the ball managed to roll into the bottom corner, clipping the post on the way in. Soon after this it appeared Hardly Athletic were getting complacent, the ball was rolled out from the goalkeeper, a lack of movement lost them the ball and due to some poor marking, HFC managed to get a good shot away to make the score nine two to Hardly Athletic.

After this Hardly Athletic regained their shape, and after two late goals from James Lamb and Rob Bennett, both tap ins, the game finished 11-2, the final two goals insuring everyone got on the score sheet. This was a good all-round performance from a side beaming with confidence; they’ll be hoping they will be able to keep up their great form in two weeks time 

as they have a week off next week.

Man of the Match: Clark Roberts, he repeatedly found himself in acres of space and every time he got the ball he looked dangerous, he showed this by adding 3 goals to his already impressive tally of 4 this season.

League Table

Goalscorers


Clark Roberts- 7
Johann Hoiby- 6
James Lamb- 3
Mike Whitby- 2
Robert Bennett- 2
Perry Davies- 2
Alex Day- 1
James Townsend- 1
Own Goals- 1


FC Hardly Athletic (1st) vs Mini Mees (2nd)

After last week’s resounding victory over North London Magpies, FC Hardly Athletic were looking to push on and continue their great start to the new campaign. They were coming up against a team who were new to the league and went by the name of ‘Mini Mees’ (after playing them, still confused by the name). They didn’t know much about the team, all they knew was that they won by the same score line as they did last week, so Hardly Athletic were going to be in for a tough game.

With Alex Day out injured, James Townsend was asked to fill in at the back for the second week running, this week also saw the return of Mike Whitby after he missed last week’s 10-3 victory over North London Magpies. It all started to go wrong before kick-off though, in the warm up Johann Hoiby miss-controlled a pass to him, falling awkwardly on his ankle, he managed to make the starting line-up but was limping slightly.

The starting line-up consisted of the ever present Chris Corfield in goal, James Lamb and James Townsend starting in defence, along with Mike Whitby, Johann Hoiby and Clark Roberts making up the front three, Rob Bennett was starting off on the subs bench. Hardly Athletic started well, putting pressure on the other team, they seemed to like to get the ball down and play, but from the goalkeepers throw, James Lamb (yeah that’s me, I’m going to talk in third person), intercepted the ball, laying it on a plate for Mike Whitby to slide home to make it one nil.

After the poor start by Mini Mees they started to find their feet, stringing pass after pass together, forcing a few good saves out of Chris Corfield. The rest of the first half flew past quite quickly, with neither side making any clear cut chances, yet just before half time, a pretty much one legged Johann Hoiby picked up the ball about twenty yards from goal, and under pressure, pinged the ball into the top corner, the keeper could get no-where near it, so out of nowhere, Hardly Athletic were two nil up at half time.

As the second half restarted Mini Mees came out with a lot more determination than they showed in the first half, they were putting a lot more pressure on the defence, forcing the defenders to rush the passes out, making it a lot harder to keep the ball, after this sustained pressure by the Mini Mees they managed to pull a goal back to make it 2-1. Hardly Athletic looked as though they were on the back foot, the Mini Mees were pressurising in numbers making it difficult for Hardly Athletic to get the ball down and play. I’m not going to lie, I don’t remember how the next goal happened, but I know that the injured Johann Hoiby managed to grab a second, making it three one to Hardly Athletic, giving them some much needed breathing space.

With the goal the pressure from Mini Mees increased, they had several good opportunities to score as their flowing attacking football was pulling Hardly Athletic to pieces, a block off the line from James Townsend and several good saves from Chris Corfield kept Hardly Athletic’s two goal advantage intact.

As it seemed as though the next team to score would be the Mini Mees, James Lamb found himself boxed into the corner of the pitch, he managed to squeeze a pass out to Johann Hoiby, who in turn played a superb ball to an unmarked Mike Whitby, who tapped in his second, and Hardly Athletic’s fourth of the night. Hardly Athletic were now 4-1 up and knew all they needed to do now was defend well, with ten minutes to go, they’d have the win in the bag.

Mini Mees had several long range efforts, and started winning several free-kicks as it appeared they started to go down with the slightest of touches. As the Hardly Athletic goal was peppered with attacks, a sublime save from a ball that was heading into the top corner gave Hardly Athletic hope that it would be their day. As the game was closing in, there was confusion about five yards from goal, the Mini Mees striker was the first to pounce making it 4-2, leaving a tense final five minutes for Hardly Athletic to see out. With excellent pressing by Rob Bennett, Clark Roberts, Johann Hoiby and Mike Whitby, along with sturdy defending from James Townsend and James Lamb, Hardly Athletic held out to make it two wins in two and keep up their charge to better their second place finish from last season.

My man of the match? Johann Hoiby, the guy was playing with an ice pack bandaged to his ankle and he managed to score an outstanding goal, followed by another, and set up Mike Whitby for the fourth goal of the night, along with his endless pressing, he had an outstanding game.


League Table

Goalscorers

Johann Hoiby- 5

Clark Roberts- 4

James Lamb- 2

Mike Whitby- 2

Robert Bennett- 1