Welcome aboard the home of Hype Train Football Club. Here, you can read the match reports from the Train's outing across Saturday & Sunday League action throughout the 2024/25 season, with the team competing in the East Berkshire Football League (EBFL) and the Reading & District Sunday League (RDSL). All aboard.
Match Report: Hype Train FC
Date: Saturday 7th September 2024
Competition: EBFL Division One
Opposition: Eton Wick FC
Location: Eton Wick Recreation Ground, Windsor, SL4 6JN
Final Score: Eton Wick FC 3-7 Hype Train FC
Request Photos: contact@thehypetrain.co.uk
Match Report:
The Train's encounter against Eton Wick was our 3rd fixture of the 2024/25 season in the East Berkshire Football League, with the team competing in EBFL Division One. This was our first away game of the season, and only our second encounter against Eton Wick (the first being a 0-0 draw away from home during the 2019/20 season).
The game didn't take long to spark into life, with the first goal of the afternoon only taking 5 minutes to arrive. Initially, the team were defending a corner kick, which was collected by the safe hands of Jamie Halsall in goal. Distributing the ball to Phil Newport on the right wing, the attacker drove the entire length of the pitch before picking his moment to provide an inch-perfect cross for Ciaran Carolan to head home back across goal for the lead - which was also Carolan's first goal of the season!
With a lead established, a second goal wasn't too far behind on the 13th minute in more controversial fashion. From an Eton Wick clearance, Ajuyah Akatomisan has played the ball back across the pitch with Carolan collecting the ball, before feeding the ball to Phil Newport, who ran unopposed into the penalty area before lashing a low drive into the bottom corner to double the lead. Eton Wick protested that Carolan was offside in the build-up, with their lino raising his flag, but the referee allowed play to continue and the goal to stand after lengthy conversations.
In another good start for The Train, with 20 minutes on the clock another goal would take the game further away from Eton Wick. Trying to break down the team, Akatomisan covered well to retrieve the ball for the team, before playing the ball down the line to Newport on the right. Cutting in on his left, Newport has played the ball high over the Eton defensive line, allowing Carolan to run on and with his first touch lob the goalkeeper to take the game to 3-0.
The scoring fun didn't there in the first-half, with a 4th goal arriving during the 28th minute. After Nathan Mindomba won back the ball and went home to Halsall in goal, some patient build up play by the defensive line saw the ball eventually reach Akatomisan, who bided his time before threading a through ball for Newport to run onto. Newport only took two touches, the first to take the ball away from the goalkeeper, and the second to calmly finish into the net.
A second hat-trick of the season for Newport only took 32 minutes to arrive, with the treble sealing goal starting with a quick throw in by Ilyas Abdulwahab on the left finding the feet of Carolan, who in turn passed square to Lucas Coe inside the penalty area. Coe found the ball pinball away from himself, though Eton were unable to clear the ball away, with Newport on hand to sweep home another composed finish on his left, for the team's 5th goal of the day.
With half-time approaching, the Train ended the first-half with a 6th goal, converting well on a rapid counter. Eton's right back ventured forward and tried to find the feet of their lively Number 9, who drew several top saves from Halsall in the half, though Akatomisan cleared with Mindomba collecting the ball and then finding Carolan on the right wing with a lovely defence-splitting pass. Carolan took his time to look up before playing in a low cross, which was met by Newport inside the penalty area, who finished well in the bottom right corner to score his 4th goal of the game!
The second-half saw all 4 substitutes put straight on, with the team finding another instant goal from the restart, with all 4 involved! Defending a corner, Christian Freemantle and Jamie Halsall have cleared our defensive lines, with Callum Parr-Jones showed great composure to clear the ball down the pitch to Nifemi Akinbola, who turned well and played in Fahad Abdul on goal. Abdul drove into the attacking third, passing forward to Mindomba, who cut the ball back to Freemantle, who with his first touch from outside the penalty area, lobbed the Eton goalkeeper with a brilliant effort, to take the game to 7-0!
The hosts weren't without their fight though and on the 56-minute mark did find a route through to goal, after some nice touches in midfield led to a through ball to their Number 11 in attack, who did well to race down the left before providing an inch-perfect low cross for their right winger to convert home.
A brace of similar strikes then arrived in the game, first in the 60th minute when Eton won the header from a goal kick, with the ball flicked forward to their Number 11 to race into the penalty area, holding off the challenges of our defensive line, before finding the net with a low shot. Then during the 70th minute, a high ball over the top led to their Number 11 chesting down another ball and tapping the ball home expertly when on the spin, to give Eton a 3rd goal.
With the end of the goalscoring, Halsall in goal denied the Number 11 a hat-trick with two excellent diving saves, whilst at the other end of the pitch, both Abdul and Akinbola went close, as the team saw out the game for another win to start our Division One campaign!
Next up for the Train, we continue our campaign with another outing in East Berkshire Football League's Division One with a home tie against Real Saracens FC at Waingels College on Saturday 14th September 2024!
Thoughts from Club Secretary, Robert Austin:
"Saturday's game was another positive step for the team as we continued our EBFL campaign with a win. We're currently building momentum and behind the scenes building foundations for a hopefully positive season, but we're staying grounded and just working game to game to improve.
Thankfully, we were able to bury the game early on and had one of our best first-half performances in quite some time and due to some good counters and control in the opposition half, we created a lot of chances to score and had some top finishing on the day to win comfortably. At half-time, we changed things about and gave minutes to all the subs, and they all made an instant impact to combine with the 7th goal, and did well in the game to compete as Eton had a positive reaction and were improved in the second-half. So, from a squad perspective, it was another positive day and a good win for the team.
Thank you to Eton for hosting on the day with a week's notice, and to the young referee Zach, who had a top game in the middle of the park!"
Hype Train FC: Matchday Squad
Manager: Robert Austin
Starting 11:
GK: Jamie Halsall
DEF: Anwar Mmanga
DEF: Ajuyah Akatomisan (Mindomba 58')
DEF: Josh Robertson
DEF: Robert Austin (Carolan 80')
MID: Phil Newport (Abdul 46')
MID: Nathan Mindomba (Marshall 55')
MID: Lucas Coe (Abdulwahab 72')
MID: Chris Marshall (Parr-Jones 46', Newport 78')
MID: Ilyas Abdulwahab (Freemantle 46')
FOR: Ciaran Carolan (Akinbola 46')
Substitutes:
SUB: Nifemi Akinbola
SUB: Christian Freemantle SUB: Fahad Abdul
SUB: Callum Parr-Jones
Goals & Assists:
Goal 1: Carolan (goal), Newport (assist)
Goal 2: Newport (goal), Carolan (assist)
Goal 3: Carolan (goal), Newport (assist)
Goal 4: Newport (goal), Akatomisan (assist)
Goal 5: Newport (goal), no assist
Goal 6: Newport (goal), Carolan (assist)
Goal 7: Freemantle (goal), Mindomba (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. During the 2021/22 season, we won our first-ever trophy, lifting the East Berkshire Football League's Presidents Cup!
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
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