Matt finish sees Yobbos edge an 11-goal thriller

A teacher at Elizabeth College junior school, the Island midfielder snatched a point away from the students with time virtually up as the youngsters paid the price for standing off and allowing him to drive forward down the centre of the Footes Lane pitch and it was inevitable that his resultant shot would find its target to seal a 6-5 victory for Yobbos.

It was a harsh lesson for College, who more than played their part in an end-to-end thriller that had more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel, but gave up a two-goal lead in the last quarter-of-an-hour.

They had actually fallen two goals behind in the same length of time at the start of the match as Yobbos seemed to cope much better with the 9.30am start.

The pink-and-whites were as bright as the rising sun and scored with the first attack of note in the game in the fourth minute as Jonny Clark fired home from the edge of the D after a good run from Jack Birch.

Yobbos continued to pass and move with good intent and intelligence, helped by a lethargic opening from their opponents, whose coach Andy Good urged his team to ‘concentrate on what you’re doing – we’re giving the ball away too easily’ after 10 minutes.

They were not quick enough to pay heed to those words because three minutes later they conceded a second as, just moments after being denied by Dan Brown, Ant Stokes beat the College keeper at his near post.

That goal, though, seemed to flick a switch that brought College to life and within four minutes they were level.

Both goals benefitted from good awareness to take quick free-hits.

The first was hammered home by Josh Saunders after a positive run from Cameron Rivers-Moore, and just moments later Charlie Clapham scored on the reverse stick having largely set up the opportunity himself.

Although there were no further goals in the first half, the entertainment kept increasing.

After the turnaround, College started the second half well and went ahead for the first time on 40min. as a terrific team move left Toby Storer with the simple task of turning the ball home from close range.

The Yobbos response was immediate as they made a 42nd minute penalty-corner count with Matt Stokes finding the bottom corner, but 10 minutes later they were trailing by two.

Rivers-Moore scored EC’s fourth as Saunders returned the earlier compliment to set up his teammate, and then Peter Birch added a fifth on the follow up at a short-corner.

But just as quickly as those goals came at one end, Yobbos replied with two of their own at the other.

Ant Stokes slotted home his second after his initial attempt was blocked to reduce the gap back to one, then neat stick work from Kevin Smith helped set up the equaliser for Jack Birch with 13 minutes remaining.

Yobbos forced a couple of short-corners as they pressed for a winner but College looked set to hold out for a draw, that is until they allowed the older Stokes to do as he pleased in the final minute to break their resistance.