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 2023/24 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: Sunday 14th January 2024
Competition: RDSL Division 3 (Game 11)
Opposition: Barkham United
Location: Coley Recreation Ground, Reading, RG1 6DG
Final Score: Barkham United 0-1 Hype Train FC
Request Photos: contact@thehypetrain.co.uk
Match Report:
The train's encounter against Barkham United was our 31st competitive match of the 2023/24 season, with the team travelling to Coley Recreation Ground in Reading & District Sunday League's Division 3. This was the return leg of our league fixtures against Barkham, with the team running out 8-1 winners in the home game.
Warming up to the game, chances for both sides wouldn't be in short supply. Starting with the hosts, Barkham went close during the 20th minute when some good work with the ball at the edge of the box led to a Barkham midfielder lashing a shot just inches wide of the box. Additionally on several occasions, the team in light blue and white missed several key chances from dead balls that all went wide without testing Robert Austin in goal.
As for the train in the first-half, good interplay in the final third would free chances for both Waqar Janjua and Mitchell Saunders, who both fired over, whilst Saunders and Joe Sawyer were inches wide from Ciaran Carolan corners that put pressure on the Barkham goalkeeper.
The second-half was more a tense, open affair on a bobbly pitch that saw Carolan in attack force the opposition goalkeeper into two saves central to the goal, whilst Saunders went close again via his head from another corner kick routine. Changes had to be made at the back for the team as the game went on, with Jamie Carter and Ajuyah Akatomisan having to be forcefully removed due to injuries, which forced our hand at 0-0 to try to be more offensive with a new shape.
Barkham's biggest opportunity of the game came from a corner kick of their own, with a dangerous in-swinging corner meeting the head of Barkham's Sukhi Dhaliwal, though having beat his marker to the ball, the header went agonisingly over the bar.
With a frustrating game seemingly grinding to a goalless draw, matters were made worse in the 83rd minute when Saunders was taken down inside the penalty area, not once but twice by Barkham defenders, and when the referee (who did well to allow the game to flow the best it could have on the pitch) wasn't sold on the multiple collisions, Kie Longmate wound up in the sin bin for protesting the continuation of play, with the team having to find a way through with a man less.
With the game looking like it would end goalless, on the stroke of the 90th minute an end-to-end sequence would decide the game within the space of 40 seconds. Starting on the counter, Barkham worked the ball centrally and had several players central faced up with our defensive line and worked space in tight spaces to free an attacking player to have a one-on-one with Austin in goal, though when the clinical touch was needed, Barkham shot directly to Austin who saved at point blank range. In a rush, Austin collected the ball and punted the play forward, with Usamah Choudhry collecting the ball after a knockdown, before passing to Tom Dalgarno on the left flank. Stepping into the Barkham half, Dalgarno waited for Saunders to make a run that just beat the offside trap before playing the ball over, with Saunders charging into the penalty area before calmly passing the ball into the back post - slowly trickling across the ball there was an agonising wait before the ball cushioned the ball against the net to win the game at the death for the train!
Next up for the train, we will be attempting to beat the cold conditions and frost as we are set to entertain Old Windsor FC Reserves in the Last 16 of the Ascot & Fielden Charity Cup at Calcot Recreation Ground, whilst our next Sunday outing sees us host Burghfield FC 'A' in RDSL Division 3 on Sunday 28th January 2024.
Thoughts from Club Secretary, Robert Austin:
"Sunday's game at Coley Rec was a typical mid-January game on a bobbly, uncomfortable pitch, with two teams that were still looking to find the right gear after the Christmas break, which made this a very close game.
We beat Barkham 8-1 on home soil, but our away outing was a completely different story. The pitch was in poor condition, it was very cold and sleepy for us, and it was one of them days where the ball wouldn't stick - it was proper Sunday League football and we had to adapt and learn as the game went on. We grew frustrated the later the game went on as we pressed for the winner, and it really looked like we weren't going to get the decisive goal in a one goal game, but to our credit we never gave up the ghost of the win and produced another memorable moment to snatch the win at the death of the game.
The balance of play had the game go back-and-forth and at times the result could have gone either way. We had several chances to get the goals, and despite being limited the team found a way to keep our charge near the top of the table. The points are all that matter right now, and we're looking forward to bettering our collective performance in the weeks ahead.
I'd like to wish Sukhi and the team at Barkham the best for the rest of the season. It's only a matter of time before Barkham pick up more points, they were very unlucky not to get a result and played a very combative game all morning."
Hype Train FC: Matchday Squad
Manager: Robert Austin
Starting 11:
GK: Robert Austin
DEF: Joe Sawyer
DEF: Ajuyah Akatomisan (Mmanga 65')
DEF: Kie Longmate
DEF: Jamie Carter (Pereira 58')
MID: Taren Langa (Dalgarno 73')
MID: Usamah Choudhry
MID: Waqar Janjua
MID: Mitchell Saunders
MID: Padraig Gorman
FOR: Ciaran Carolan
Substitutes:
SUB: Tom Dalgarno
SUB: Anwar Mmanga
SUB: Leo Pereira
Goals & Assists:
Goal 1: Saunders (goal), Dalgarno (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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