A gale force win for Valence 3rds

With the threat of gale force winds over the weekend, Sutton Valence arrived at Cliftonville’s hill top pitch in good spirits from the win the previous week, and looking to win two on the trot, started the game at high pace. Sutton Valence were two up in the same number of minutes, catching Cliftonville’s defence snoozing; the first scored by Henry Robinson, who was unchallenged as he moved from midfield into the Cliftonville D, the second by Pete Rogers, his first for the club.
The half continued with Sutton Valence dominating all elements of play, with Cliftonville unable to string passes together to get themselves out of trouble. As the first half progressed, so did the wind and rain, with visability an issue during the half, but that didn’t dampen Sutton Valence’s play, as they scored two more before half time, courtesy of Chris Sheldon.
Taking a 4 - 0 margin into half time, Sutton Valence talked through what went well, and where they needed to tighten up. Expecting Cliftonville to come out a recharged team, Valence wanted to simply play the same style of hockey as the first half. The whistle blew, with Cliftonville pushing back and moving the ball quickly between their midfield until Tom Bartlett intercepted a cross-field pass. Taking the ball past a player Tom hit it into the opposition D, straight to Chris Sheldon, who calmly slotted it home with only 1 minute gone on the clock.
The half continued with Sutton Valence dominating play throughout the game and they scored another 4 goals to finish the game 9 - 0.
Sutton Valence played well as a team, with individual moments of genius from every position. Despite being outscored on the day by Chris Sheldon, Man of the Match goes to Dave Lewis, who embodied the Sutton Valence spirit scoring two inspiring goals in only his third appearance for the Club.