3/12/25 Kestrels 3-0 Bedfordshire 1s
Kestrels report:
Kestrels 3-0 University of Bedfordshire
Goals: Felix x2, Ryan
Assists: Bash, Felix, Oscar
With all the talk of a Bedford team dominating the league and scoring goals for fun, the Kestrels needed no further inspiration going into the biggest game of the season. After an unusually sharp warmup and some rousing words, it was time for the talking to stop.
In what was a first half of few clear cut chances, Bedford’s much anticipated attacking threat was nullified expertly. Rising to the big game occasion, we won the 50/50 battles and our back five dealt effectively with long balls into their massive number nine. No doubt expecting an easy win, already at this point Bedford heads began to loosen… On the ball, Fede and Boris outran and outfought their opposite numbers in midfield. Toby clipped a delightful fourty yard ball down the right wing which had their left back panicking. With ten minutes to go in the half, Bash picked up the ball in midfield and threaded a ball through the defence to leave Felix one on one, who dinked the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net (made to look better than it was by the keeper who helpfully gloved the ball into the top bins). 1-0 at the break.
Largely unimproved by their half-time cigarettes (some opting for the healthier vape to be fair), the Bedford boys once again found themselves knocking at a locked door after the restart. Drilled into rock solid defensive shape, Bedford simply could not break us down as our back five mopped up their increasing long ball focus. Special mention to Tayvon for not loosing a header all afternoon. Breaking to their man ten yards out after a ricochet from a corner, their biggest (and probably only) chance of the game was met with a spectacular save from Elias in goal to top off a commanding performance. Meanwhile Ben, on a yellow card, cleverly body checked their bloke and somehow avoided a second booking - a series of events that triggered perhaps the biggest team-wide headloss of the year from the oppo (presumably as Ben had planned). Against this backdrop, and backed by increasing numbers of CUAFC fans, the game became scrappy with legs tiring and a dogged kestrels side battling to retain their lead - Jacob, Oscar, Brandon and Henry adding much needed dynamism from the bench at this point. Amidst mounting abuse of referee (including from an unidentified middle aged spectator), the inevitable was finally realised as Bedford were reduced to ten for dissent.
With the clock ticking past 90, the ball dropped kindly to Ryan 20 yards out. Unperturbed by the rest of team urging him towards the corner (or Oscar in a much better position to the left), he finessed the ball past a despairing keeper and the game was won. Not content with ripping off the shirt, Hoffman raced towards the corner and completed a fairly successful kneeslide - where he was soon crushed by the rest of the squad in some pretty unbelievable scenes. There was more… deep into stoppage time, Oscar beat his man for pace and was hacked down in the box. Reluctantly, (and as it turned out justifiably so), Oscar stepped up to convert the penalty but sadly missed, earning himself a well-deserved assist on debut though as Felix tapped in the rebound. 3-0 to the Kestrels. A win for the ages.
