5/11/25 Kestrels 2-2 De Montfort
Goals: Nick, Bashir
Assists: Tayvon
MOTM: Tayvon
DOTD: Referee
After a heartbreaking cup defeat to Oxford Brookes, the Kestrels arrived for their Grange Road debut looking to bounce back in the right way- with three points and a convincing performance to top it.
Within minutes of the first half, it was clear who the better side was. The Kestrels took control of the game with a suffocating press and free-flowing slick football in possession. De Montfort looked like they’d turned up still half-asleep from the coach journey, chasing shadows as we popped it around with a bit of confidence. To Abhi’s delight the boys were actually replicating what he had taught us in training, contributing to the breakthrough around 20 minutes in. Tayvon, who was up and down the right flank all game, found a bit of space out wide and whipped in an absolute peach of a cross, right onto the foot of Nick Schmidt who side-footed home for 1-0.
Then came the first warning sign- the referee. Our first corner caused chaos in the box as the keeper (who was somehow shorter than Craig) flapped at it, and the ball looked to have clearly crossed the line. The Kestrels celebrated, but the ref appeared to be looking at pigeons. No goal, and halftime.
Confidence was flowing at the start of the second half, with the lads ready to cook under the floodlights, starting just as strong as we had left off. A bit of cynical pulling from a set piece from De Montfort led to a penalty for us, which Bashir stepped up for and calmly finished, seemingly wrapping up the game. Or so we thought.
Because then the referee decided he’d had enough of watching footy and fancied turning it into a whistle orchestra. Every nudge or breeze of contact was deemed illegal, leading to the game becoming a stop-start farce of sorts. And in the chaos, two extremely questionable set pieces later, it was somehow 2-2 in 10 minutes. Still, the Kestrels fought on valiantly. Another excellent move on the left hand side saw the ball end up in the back of the net once more… but disallowed. The ref didn’t actually call offside until after we had scored like 30 seconds later and they started complaining which is certainly an interesting approach to officiating but hey.
Tensions boiled over soon after, as both teams became increasingly frustrated. Cards began coming out, and at one point it looked like a WWE Royal Rumble after one bad foul (I was on the opposite wing so I had no idea what started it all). The last 10 were scrappy. Crunching last-ditch tackles on both sides, but no real clear-cut chances to break the deadlock. 2-2 at Full Time, but the chaos continued after the final whistle, as one of their lads decided to come to our bench and start screaming at full-time for no apparent reason (likely rattled by something Toby Stewart said).
In all, frustrating result when we were on top for most of the game, but it was certainly an entertaining one. Plenty of positives, loads to build on, and one certainty: the away fixture is going to be spicy.
