The bus pulled into Marston Vale's ground on Saturday morning. The pitch wasn't as nice as Crestwood's, but it still had a nice feeling to it. It was mostly just parents that attended this game, but there were also a few scouts from other clubs seeing if any players would be worth signing.
On the whiteboard in the changing room, it had Callum Reid as striker, Ethan Matthews as the advanced midfielder, and Mason Archer as the central midfielder. There were a few changes after the friendly last week, but the trio remained in the starting lineup. Coach Warren entered the changing room and gave his pre-match speech. "Okay lads, this is it. Today is the first game of the season. Let's have a strong start to the season and make a statement today. Marston Vale will be physical just like Hartwell. Ethan, don't get rattled and stick to the game plan. Let's move the ball around quickly and the chances will come. They are bound to make at least one mistake and we need to capitalize on it. Now let's go out there and win this thing." Ethan's stomach churned as he put on his Crestwood jersey now that they were about to play for real.
As soon as the match started, Marston Vale let their presence be known. Within the first 5 minutes Ethan had been slide tackled twice as well as shoved to the ground. The ref didn't call a foul a single time, and the Marston Vale fans were loving the physicality. Mason noticed that Ethan was rattled by the physicality and told him, "Keep your head up Price! Don't let them bully you."
Crestwood was struggling to find a gap in the defense for the first ten minutes of the match. Callum was waving his arms, practically begging for the ball, but every time Ethan touched the ball, he was immediately hounded by defenders.
In the 12th minute a Marston Vale long throw caused chaos inside the Crestwood box with the ball bouncing dangerously before Mason cleared it.
In the 21st minute, Crestwood had their first successful move of the game. The ball came to Ethan, and he turned away from his man, then slipped a beautiful pass to Callum, who turned and delivered a powerful shot that forced the goalkeeper to dive and save it with his right hand.
In the 33rd minute Mason lost the ball in the final third and Marston Vale launched their counter attack. The right winger got past the Crestwood fullback and put in a cross that was poked in the near post to give Marston Vale the 1-0 lead. The home crowd roared as their team scored, feeling like they deserved to be ahead at this point in the match. A few of the Crestwood heads dropped, including Ethan's, but Mason immediately shouted encouragement to get the team focused again.
In the 40th minute, Mason redeemed himself and broke up the Vale move. Mason passed the ball to Ethan who looked and saw Callum making a run. Ethan passed the ball in between the center backs, and Callum was one on one with the keeper. Callum coolly put the ball past the keeper and leveled the match at 1 all. A few moments later the referee blew for halftime.
In the changing room, Coach Warren was pleased with how Mason handled the situation after going one nil down. "That was a good response lads. Now let's push to get that second goal. They'll come after us hard again, so look for the openings."
The second half was even scrappier than the first. Ethan was learning that this league isn't always about talent but also about who's tougher and wants to win more. Early in the second half Mason was winning every 50-50 ball that came his direction, and Callum threatened to score his second goal multiple times.
In the 58th minute a loose ball fell to Ethan just outside the 18-yard box. Ethan faked going left and then went right, which opened up a shooting opportunity. He curled a low shot to the bottom right corner, but the Vale goalkeeper was just able to get his fingertips to it and pushed it away.
In the 67th minute Callum won the ball after high pressing the defender and passed it to Ethan who took a touch and shot it from twenty yards out past the Vale keeper to give Crestwood the lead. The Crestwood bench erupted, and teammates mobbed Ethan. "That's more like it, Eastfield," Mason said as he slapped Ethan on the back.
In the final minutes of the match, Mason dropped back deeper to help out the back line and keep the lead. Vale kept trying long balls towards their striker, but Mason and the Crestwood defense kept breaking up every pass. After one of the long balls, Mason hit a long ball towards Callum, who then shot just wide of the net. Finally the referee blew the full-time whistle and Crestwood won their first match of the season 2-1.