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. Barton Rovers
Date: Sunday 17th April 2022
Competition: Reading & District Sunday League, Division 4 (Game 15)
Opposition: Barton Rovers Reserves
Location: Turnhams Farm, Little Heath Road, Reading, RG31 5TX
Final Score: Barton Rovers 0-6 Hype Train FC
Photographer: Sam Austin (@HypeTrainSam)
Request Photos: contact@thehypetrain.co.uk
Match Report:
Our encounter against Barton Rovers was the team's 15th league outing in RDSL Division 4 (18th overall due to a trio of walkover wins) and the return fixture of the team's 4-0 home win over Barton from our recent game in March, with this being the hosts' final game of the RDSL season.
The visit to Barton saw the team engaged in a combative first-half, with the team taking their time to get going on a good morning for football, with the first goal taking 25 minutes to arrive. Starting from a short goal kick, George Fradgley in central defence picked out Phil Newport at the halfway line with a pass, with Newport nodding the ball down to Colins Akemche who played a through ball over the top of Barton's defensive line. Powering through was Owen Jones who shrugged off his defender, set nicely, and buried the ball past the opposing keeper to give the team a 1-0 lead - and that's how the game stayed until half-time, despite the team peppering the Barton goal with several attempts and nearly moments.
The second-half saw the team go downhill, whilst we changed formation to be more positive, with the change helping the team move forward. Before the team were able to add to our tally, with a bare bones squad, Callum Fox-Spence was forced off after taking a bad knock, which meant early in the second-half Sam Austin, the club's Chairman who hasn't played for the club, went in goal for the team to ensure we could keep 11 players on the field.
A second goal wasn't too far away and arrived in the 58th minute when we a loose pass down the line by Barton was collected by Jon Watkins at right back, who put the ball high and central, after a few back and forth headers, Newport headed a pass to Callum Parr-Jones, with the attacking midfielder driving into the penalty area and unleashing a rocket with his left foot into the roof of the ne to double the team's lead!
The lead was trebled in the 63rd minute when a Watkins throw found Newport at the edge of the box. The attacker kept hold of the ball, ran it past several to the left byline before cutting in a cross hat went in off a Barton player and into the net, with an own goal heavily contributed to Newport's persistent running with the ball.
The floodgates had opened in a productive second-half, with a 4th added in the 71st minute from a Callum Parr-Jones in-swinging corner that was guided towards the back-post, with Robert Austin heading home from six-yards-out after running off his marking defender.
The 87th minute saw Barton hit for five when Watkins passed into the final third after Fradgley won back possession of the ball, with the ball bouncing through to Walid Zaky, who fed Parr-Jones with a through ball, with the midfielder calmly finishing to the keeper's bottom right to score a double on the day.
The day's goalscoring was rounded in in the first minute of added time when Newport was brought down inside the penalty area, gifting the chance to Parr-Jones to complete a first hat-trick for the club, with the attempt seeing CPJ pass the ball into the net from the penalty spot, ensuring a first treble and a rout in the second-half.
The win puts the team on 46 points after 18 games of the season, with a win against FC Whitley Wood next Sunday on 24th April ensuring that the club will finish in second place in RDSL Division 4, with Reading United on course for a clean sweep of 20 league wins. Next up for the team elsewhere, we host AFC Cressex in EBFL's Premier Division, which is a preview of the EBFL Presidents Cup final on Saturday 7th May 2022!
Thoughts from Club Secretary, Robert Austin:
"Sunday's game was a repeat of Saturday in the sense that we headed into the game with a skeleton crew and no available subs, but we got on with the task in question and really put in a good performance in the second-half - we were fluid and moved the ball well, created a lot of chances and the final score should have been more. As for the first-half, we warmed up poorly and we weren't at the races as we got to grips with a changed formation, it was really sloppy from us and we should be aiming to start with purpose in the weeks ahead.
Overall this weekend, I'm very happy and it's been a couple of good days of football, we have gotten through a difficult bank holiday weekend intact, with two wins and some very good goals scored. Hopefully we can build on this as we head towards our cup final on May 7th.
All credit to Glenn Lewis and the team at Barton for getting the game going ahead this morning on Easter Sunday, it's been a difficult week to get football games going ahead, so thank you for playing us and concluding your season - let's hope we see you guys later down the line and best of luck next season!"
Hype Train FC: Matchday Squad
Manager: Robert Austin
Starting 11:
GK: Robert Austin
DEF: George Fradgley
DEF: Chris Marshall
DEF: Jon Watkins
DEF: Dany Setiawan
MID: Colins Akemche
MID: Callum Fox-Spence (S. Austin 58')
MID: Callum Parr-Jones
MID: Walid Zaky
MID: Owen Jones
FOR: Phil Newport
Substitutes:
SUB: Sam Austin (GK)
Goals and Assists:
Goal 1: Jones (goal), Akemche (assist)
Goal 2: Parr-Jones (goal), Newport (assist)
Goal 3: Own Goal (goal), Newport (assist)
Goal 4: R. Austin (goal), Parr-Jones (assist)
Goal 5: Parr-Jones (goal), Zaky (assist)
Goal 6: Parr-Jones (goal), Newport (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
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