Hype Train FC will be playing across both Saturday and Sunday next season, with the team competing in the East Berkshire Football League and the Reading & District Sunday League. You can follow all of the team's season coverage right here as we provide match reports and photo galleries from our third season as a club! All aboard.
Match Report: Calcot FC vs. Hype Train FC
Date: Sunday 17th October 2021
Competition: Reading & District Sunday League (Division 4)
Opposition: Calcot FC
Location: Linear Park, Calcot, Reading, RG31 7AT
Final Score: Calcot FC 0-5 Hype Train FC
Photographer: Sam Austin (@HypeTrainSam)
Request Photos: contact@thehypetrain.co.uk
Match Report:
Our encounter against Calcot was the team's 4th outing in the Reading & District Sunday League, and our 6th competitive game this season in total, with the game a stone's throw away from the team's home pitch at Calcot Recreation Ground.
In a game filled with chances for the home side, with the hosts failing to manage a shot on goal during the entire game, we will just cover the goals and goal that was ruled out that should have stood.
The game didn't take long to get going, with the team ahead within 25 seconds of the game starting. Calcot took the kick-off and lost the ball immediately, with Leon Mannion winning back the ball. Combining with Phil Newport, the ball trickles and bobbles across Calcot's defensive line, with Newport finding the angle to calmly convert from a few yards out.
We doubled our lead in the 3rd minute of the game when Colins Akemche and Paul Hatfield combined to free Mannion down the right. Cutting on to his left-foot, Mannion delivered a cross deep to the back-post, with the in-form Owen Jones converting with his head, a clinical headed finish at the six-yard-line.
The 29th minute saw the most ridiculous decision you will ever see in Sunday League football. Calcot's dead ball following an offside was poor and ultimately collected by Newport who drove at Calcot's defence. Newport struck a low effort that beat the keeper to make it a potential double for the attacker, though Calcot's linesman clearly cheated in this instance to keep the score at 2-0. Yes, the linesman raised his flag for an offside - despite Newport shooting from range and the nearest players around him, Mannion and Hatfield, not being involved the ball or even near the ball for that matter. After consulting with the easily-swayed referee, the linesman robbery paid off and an offside was given, for virtually nothing.
Little did that matter though as we did find a 3rd goal in the 34th minute, when Mannion touched down a throw by Akemche, with Hatfield dancing around Calcot's defensive line and hitting a shot on target that takes a deflection on its way into the net.
Calcot's keeper, who wasn't having a good morning, would then have a moment to forget in the 39th minute when Hatfield played a quick throw to George Holloway, with the central defender clipping in a cross the the opposing keeper doesn't catch, with the ball squirming under his legs to ensure the team led 4-0 at half-time.
The second-half score was repeated, though it took until the 64th minute for that goal to arrive, with Callum Gibbons scoring his first competitive goals for the club when he rose highest at the near-post from a Hatfield corner, with the big man powering in a header and making amends for going ever so close in the first-half to scoring.
It was a day for first-time scorers, with Holloway and Gibbons among the goals, with another new name among the goals in the form of unlikely-scorer Colins Akemche. From another Hatfield set-piece, we won the initial header and then Gibbons pounced for a rebound strike, with the substitute Calcot keeper doing well to save the effort, though it well to Akemche a couple of yards out to smash home on the turn. The exact same scenario happened just 4 minutes later in the 78th minute when Akemche scored after picking up the scraps from a Gibbons effort in the six-yard-box.
The scoring was completed in the 86th minute and the same combination for the team's 5th goal was recreated, this time when a deep corner from Hatfield was again powered home by Gibbons at the far-post to ensure a healthy victory for the team.
The win means that the team maintains a 100% record in RDSL Division 4 with 4 games played, whilst we are the highest scorers (31) and have conceded the fewest goals (2).
Thoughts from Club Secretary, Robert Austin:
"If there was ever such thing as a routine win, today was just that. We got the expected points on the board and scored a lot of goals, got the points and moved on, though it was a day where we tended to step down to Calcot's level and made life harder on ourselves when we didn't need to. If we had applied our tactics and not got frustrated and goal-happy, we could have doubled the score, but that's all academic and a decent win against a team of good lads that never gave up the cause.
The start to our season though has been fantastic. 6 wins from 6 games, strong going forward and mean at the back. The right principles are slowly getting there in the team and hopefully we can just keep on grinding away and building momentum each and every week.
We actually have a few very tough cup fixtures coming up the horizon that will test the team, so we're looking forward to some more intense matches that will test the metal of the squad in the coming weeks - and after a few fixtures we have run away with, it's exactly what we need to raise our game to another level.
Thank you to Calcot for their hospitality and for the game - we're looking forward to the return fixture across the road later down the line."
Hype Train FC: Matchday Squad
Starting 11:
GK: Chris Marshall
DEF: Colins Akemche (Fradgley 46')
DEF: George Holloway
DEF: Callum Gibbons
MID: Robert Austin
MID: Paul Hatfield
MID: Scott Terry (Izzo 78')
MID: Gino Izzo (Snell 46')
MID: Phil Newport (Terry 80')
MID: Owen Jones (Basden 70')
FOR: Leon Mannion (Akemche 60')
Substitutes:
SUB: Matt Snell
SUB: George Fradgley
SUB: Danny Basden
Goals and Assists:
Goal 1: Newport goal, no assist
Goal 2: Jones goal, Mannion assist
Goal 3: Hatfield goal, Mannion assist
Goal 4: Holloway goal, Hatfield assist
Goal 5: Gibbons goal, Hatfield assist
Goal 6: Akemche goal, Gibbons assist
Goal 7: Akemche goal, Gibbons assist
Goal 8: Gibbons goal, Hatfield assist
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in general football and Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.
We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.
In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles. We won both Goal of the Season Awards in the Berkshire and County FA regions, with Callum Parr-Jones winning the Berks & Bucks FA award, whilst Martin King won the PlaySport UK award. In 2021, we formed the Reading Sunday Social League (RSSL), a competitive Sunday League involving 8 teams in its debut season.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.
You can follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, follow Hype Train FC on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive content, visit our club's dedicate website, or visit our website here at www.thehypetrain.co.uk
Believe The Hype!
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