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: Core FC vs. Hype Train FC
Date: Sunday 8th May 2022
Competition: Reading & District Sunday League, Division 4 (Game 17)
Opposition: Core FC
Location: The Forest School, Winnersh, Reading, RG41 5NE
Final Score: Core FC 3-4 Hype Train FC
Photographer: Sam Austin (@HypeTrainSam)
Request Photos: contact@thehypetrain.co.uk
Match Report:
Our encounter against Core FC was the team's 17th and final league outing in RDSL Division 4 (20th overall due to a trio of walkover wins) and the reverse fixture of the team's 6-1 home victory at Calcot Recreation Ground in September 2021 - with this game being the day after our EBFL Presidents Cup final victory over AFC Cressex, and our final Sunday League game of the season.
Where to start? The team, bar maybe one to two players, were completely hanging after celebrations the night before after our EBFL Presidents Cup win, with the entire squad surviving on a combined 6 hours sleep. With nothing on the line for either time, we decided that for one-time only, we would draw positions out of a hat - our Sunday keeper Jake Holloway had stints at CB and CF, whilst top scorer Leon Mannion played CM and RB, Club Sportsman Award holder Walid Zaky provided moment of the day when he was drawn as the captain for the day, and Jamie Carter switched the left for 45 minutes up top.
It was a complete end of season Sunday League experience, and somehow we were able to take a 3-0 lead in at half-time. In the 3rd minute of the game, if the insanity of drawing from the hat wasn't enough, saw perhaps our most bizarre goal of the season. Captain, Egyptian Zaky, did well to hold off Core's left back, playing the ball back to George Holloway at right back. Well inside his own half, Holloway walked with the ball to the halfway line, provided a cross to the edge of the box towards Carter and Newport, with the bounce of the ball going straight over the stranded Core keeper, with Newport watching the ball go in - Holloway then made history by becoming the first player to take his shirt off for a goal celebration.
Want more insanity? Cue the 23rd minute when Newport, playing in a more familiar left midfield position, was dragged down in the penalty area and won a spot-kick. Stepping up was Jake Holloway, aforementioned keeper who was playing in central defence alongside Robert Austin, who stepped up to take the penalty. Calming himself, Holloway buried his penalty in the far-right corner of the keeper's goal, meaning Holloway has a goal before several outfield players for the club, including club captain, Vince van Lembergen, who was jeering Holloway on from the side-lines!
The half-hour mark of the game saw the game run away from the hosts when we broke up a Core attack, which saw Scott Terry (who drew the lino card, coming on in CM), picking up the ball and feeding Mannion from right back with a delicious through ball. Mannion, powered past multiple Core players, running into the penalty area and smashing a pin-point strike into the bottom right of the keeper's goal - an incredible effort.
The first-half also saw Terry slice a couple of chances wide, Robert Austin draw a finger-tip save from the opposing keeper with a shot from outside the penalty area, followed up by Matt Snell (playing LB) attempting an overhead kick from a corner.
Half-time saw the team re-draw from the hat (you can read both line-ups at the bottom of our aticle), with the team battling going slightly uphill. The game did remain 3-0 until the 68th minute when former HTFC player, Noah Hodge, got a brace of goals back for Core - the first was a fine strike inside the penalty area, and the second was making the most of Club Chairman and keeper for the morning, Sam Austin, dropping the ball to give Hodge a freebie, as the hosts had belief of getting back level.
The score was tied up in the 89th minute when Core beat the offside trap after we cleared out lines, with the returning ball falling to Daniel Minns, who set himself and finished calmly as Core drew the game level at 3-3.
Then, a tactical masterclass by Matt Snell to move himself from RM to CB, and Jamie Carter going right midfield, saw Core FC's comeback ultimately mean nothing when Carter collected a cross field pass, beat his opposing defender before providing a cross for the advancing Mannion to collect and finish with confidence - heartbreak for Core at the end after a lot of hard work to draw level. This means that 4 of the club's last 6 matches have ended in a 4-3 result - a month of being entertainers!
The victory ensured that we completed a league double over Core and registered 3 victories over the new outfit this season. The result means we end RDSL Division 4 in 2nd place on 52 points (17W, 1D, 2L), and you can view the final league table below. Next up for the team, we have 5 outings in the EBFL remaining, and travel to AFC Cressex on Saturday 14th May 2022.
Thoughts from Club Secretary, Robert Austin:
"Perhaps the type of game that will only come around for the team once in a lifetime, but the end of our Sunday League season in the Reading & District Sunday League was a fun outing which showed our growing team spirit, on a morning when most were labouring the drinks and late night food from our celebrations the night before.
The match itself was ruly a game of two-halves. We scored a truly bizarre first goal, got Jakey (Holloway) a goal from the penalty spot that everyone was happy to see, then Leon had to chip in with two truly wonderful finishes. We ran out of juice in the second-half in a major way, allowed Core back into the game, and then just for the fun of it, snatched a result from them at the death. For us though, it was a good game played in the right spirits, with Liam and his team at Core playing along well knowing that we were drawing positions from a hat.
The video we took of the team picking out of the hat is worth the watch alone, it is filled with a lot of humour and wholesome moments, and it means we end our Sunday campaign on a positive note - which always hasn't been the note as we endured an often frustrating season with games called off or playing teams that didn't want to play us - I do want to thank every time for their time on a Sunday morning this season, Division 4 has been filled with top individuals and personalities, and it has been a shining light for the RDSFL this season."
Hype Train FC: Matchday Squad
Management: Vince van Lembergen & Chris Marshall
Starting 11 (First Half):
GK: Sam Austin
DEF: George Holloway (Austin 83')
DEF: Robert Austin (Holloway 80')
DEF: Jake Holloway (Mannion 25')
DEF: Matt Snell
MID: Walid Zaky (C) (Hatfield 10')
MID: Joe Sawyer
MID: Stuart Stannard
MID: Leon Mannion (Terry 15')
MID: Phil Newport
FOR: Jamie Carter
Substitutes:
SUB: Paul Hatfield (sub)
SUB: Scott Terry (lino)
Goals and Assists:
Goal 1: G. Holloway (goal), Zaky (assist)
Goal 2: J. Holloway (goal), Newport (assist)
Goal 3: Mannion (goal), Terry (assist)
Goal 4: Mannion (goal), Carter (assist)
Positions out of a Hat:
Jake Holloway: CB (first-half), substitute (second-half)
George Holloway: RB (first-half), CM (second-half)
Robert Austin: CB (first-half), LM (second-half)
Matt Snell: LB (first-half), RM (second-half)
Stuart Stannard: DM (first-half), CB (second-half)
Leon Mannion: CM & RB (first-half), CAM (second-half)
Joe Sawyer: CM (first-haf), LB (second-half)
Jamie Carter: ST (first-half), CB (second-half)
Phil Newport: LM (first-half), ST (second-half)
Scott Terry: Lino & CM (first-half), CM (second-half)
Paul Hatfield: Sub & RM (first-half), RB (second-half)
Walid Zaky: Captain & RM (first-half), injured (second-half)
Sam Austin: GK (set position, all game)
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
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