Having scored six goals in two matches but losing both, the 2nd xi travelled to MCS for their third game of the season particularly determined to perform well and come away with a victory. Radley started off very brightly, passing the ball fluently and, after 10 minutes were rewarded with a well taken finish from Rory. However, perhaps tempted by the short pitch or perhaps thrown by things being so congested, we moved away from passing the ball sharply on the deck to trying to ‘hoof’ it long. Cheaply and repeatedly yielding possession was not a fruitful stratagem and, despite it being very much against the run of play, MCS managed to equalise. It took a further 10 minutes of hoofing the ball long for the team to realise the inefficacy of what they were doing. Having gone back to passing the ball crisply on the deck, we once again played some excellent football and, on the stroke of half-time, Lade finished with excellent composure to round off a wonderful move down the right-hand side. The message at half-time was clear: keep the ball on the floor. Pleasingly, this approach was undertaken throughout the second half and, courtesy of goals from their goalkeeper, Mikael, and three more from Lade (taking his tally for the day to four), we ran away as comfortable victors. Hopefully, some useful lessons will have been learned ahead of Tonbridge on Saturday and our next league game against St Edward’s next Thursday.