Rye Bay Football Club under 12s hosted Little Common on a wet and windy day last weekend. The game started with both teams being cagey and giving little away, but with the wind behind them it was Rye who after 15 minutes took the lead against the run of play: a smart cross from the right by Spencer Milton found Tom Wilkieson who, with the ball on his favoured left foot, gave the keeper no chance with a powerful shot into the bottom corner.
The game then came to life with both teams having chances: Kai Jerrey came close after a Bradley Paine shot was spilled by the Little Common keeper then Jerrey, pouncing on the rebound and from an impossible angle, was unlucky just clipping the post and going wide. Little Common’s equaliser came five minutes later: their main man found himself in space just outside the Rye box and put his effort over Liam Wearing’s leap and into the far corner. Almost immediately Rye regained their deserved lead when Jordan Kilsby unleashed a 20 yard effort which flew into the top corner. Half time score 2-1.
The second half started with Rye battling against the wind, but some good defending by Paine, Dominic Nicolas and Will Beard restricted Little Common to long range efforts. Rye were playing one up front and it was backs against the wall. Jerrey was battling hard up top on his own and with the midfield working their socks off it looked like Rye might get the win. Common had a couple more shots which were well saved by the injured Wearing in goal, but with five minutes left Rye fell asleep and following a throw in deep in their half , the Common’s winger had bags of time to pick his cross and the striker put away his effort to make it 2-2.
The drama wasn’t over yet. With 30 seconds to go on the clock and the ball pinging around in Rye’s box, a Little Common striker took a tumble-penalty. Rye breathed a sigh of relief as Common smashed the penalty over the bar to end the game 2-2. A good match and a fair result. As usual the boys battled hard and gave their all.