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: Hype Train FC vs. Lambourn Sports
Date: Saturday 13th November 2021
Competition: Charles Twelftree Trophy (First Round)
Opposition: Lambourn Sports FC
Location: Calcot Recreation Ground, Calcot, Reading, RG31 4XD
Final Score: Hype Train FC 4-0 Lambourn Sports
Photographer: Sam Austin (@HypeTrainSam)
Request Photos: contact@thehypetrain.co.uk
Match Report:
Our encounter against Lambourn Sports was the team's third outing to kick-off our Saturday League season, with the team welcoming our visitors from the North Berks League in the first round of the Charles Twelftrees Trophy at Calcot Recreation Ground - a Berks & Bucks FA county cup competition featuring first teams from across the BBFA region.
After making the trip from the village of Lambourn, near Newbury, the visitors found themselves a goal down within a minute of the game kicking off. Paul Hatfield did well to hold off Lambourn's left back, winning a throw on. Hot on the dead ball, a good throw by George Fradgley was flicked on by Phil Newport to the feet of Leon Mannion. The Number 9 took one touch before swivelling and calmly placing the ball into the far-right of the goal to the dismay of Lambourn's flat-footed keeper. This was Mannion's 50th goal for the club, the first player to reach that tally for the club.
With the boys on top in a good first-half, it took until the 31st minute of the game to double our lead, and it was the most simplest goal with a thunderous finish. After some fine goalkeeping to sweep and collect the ball, Marshall launched a long ball deep into the Lambourn defensive half, with their central defender missing his header. The ball bounced once and from outside the box, Mannion raced towards the ball and hit a first-time half-volley that rifled past the keeper - an unstoppable effort to give the team a commanding half-time lead.
Lambourn's only shot on target arrived in the second-half when their midfield did well to tee-up a shot at the edge of our box, with Marshall making a good diving save to his left. A Lambourn attacker was on hand to follow-up on the line and cut the ball back into a dangerous area, though there were only blue shirts in the box to collect the ball.
The crucial third goal arrived in the 58th minute after some positive interplay between the team. Working from a throw in on the left, Vince van Lembergen collected a throw and past the ball off to Joe Sawyer, who played back to Marshall, who sent a long kick into the midfield area. The ball was collected expertly by Callum Fox-Spence, who put in a high ball over the Lambourn defence, a battle again won by the in-form Mannion, who eventually turned his defender and cut-back for Ash Ali, on as a half-time substitute, to score his second goal in as many weeks.
The game was over as a contest in the 66th minute when Mannion completed his hat-trick in what was the club's 69th overall match, and again it came from another good build up. Hatfield provided a cross-field ball that was brought down well by Austin. A one-two with Ali down the left saw Austin return the ball to Marshall in goal, who put the ball long for Lambourn to collect. Their first pass in our attacking third was intercepted by Gino Izzo, who played an inch-perfect through pass for Mannion to run on too, with Mannion skipping past the defender and striking a superb effort with the outside of his left boot, with the ball perfectly going in the top-right of the goalframe.
The win means that the team advanced through to the second round of the Charles Twelftrees Trophy, with the next game in the competition taking place on Saturday 11th October. The 4-0 success also means that the club have maintained their unbeaten start to the season across both days, with 11 games under the team's belt without defeat.
Thoughts from Club Manager, Robert Austin:
"Going into any County Cup competition, you sometimes don't know what you're going up against as it's a chance to play teams that you'd never usually take on, so the boys made sure that equipped ourselves well for the game and that's what we did - we went to task on a young, quick side and gave them no quarter all afternoon. Arguably it was our best performance of the season as we were able to play our football in a game that wasn't scrappy.
At the back, we were difficult to get past and held a great shape all afternoon, limiting Lambourn to speculative through balls and one shot on target. The guys in midfield did an expert job and closed everything down superbly, and up top we were clinical and scored some great goals. What's not to be happy with after saying all of that in succession? The team are absolutely buzzing right now and is another acid test that we've past - we genuinely can't wait until next weekend were we're back in league action against our rivals, Stoke Poges.
I'd just like to give congratulations to Leon (Mannion) on his 50th, 51st and 52nd goals for the club - he was superb today and ran the show in a deserved Man of the Match performance. Our opposition had no idea how to deal with his pace and creativity, as well as the intensity of our attackers and wide players in support.
Thank you for Lambourn for the game, they were a genuinely nice bunch of lads who played the game in the right spirit all afternoon, committed to everything, but were just short of much quality in the final third on the day. Good luck in your league campaign and here's hoping we meet further down the line at some point!"
Hype Train FC: Matchday Squad
Manager: Jon Watkins
Starting 11:
GK: Chris Marshall
DEF: George Fradgley (Basden 58')
DEF: Callum Gibbons (Sawyer 34')
DEF: Vincent van Lembergen (C)
DEF: Robert Austin (Paddon 80')
MID: Paul Hatfield
MID: Colins Akemche (Izzo 58')
MID: Phil Newport (Jones 68')
MID: Callum Fox-Spence
MID: Sam Paddon (Ali 46')
FOR: Leon Mannion (Newport 78')
Substitutes:
SUB: Owen Jones
SUB: Ash Ali
SUB: Joe Sawyer
SUB: Gino Izzo
SUB: Danny Basden
Goals and Assists:
Goal 1: Mannion goal, Newport assist
Goal 2: Mannion goal, Marshall assist
Goal 3: Ali goal, Mannion assist
Goal 4: Mannion goal, Izzo 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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