The football season has begun and we played Berkeley for our first game of the season.

Historically, Berkeley has always been one of our toughest competitors and that proved to be the story again. The game started out very quickly, with both teams looking to score right away.

We were evenly matched with size and skill and we knew that the winner would come from the team that wanted it more.

The first half came to an end and were still tied 0-0. Coach Roberts gave the guys an excellent halftime speech and made a few changes to the line-up so the entire team would have some playing time.

Towards the end of the game, it began to get a bit hectic.

A couple of goal-line clearances by both goalkeepers kept the score 0-0. With ten minutes or so left in the game, the atmosphere intensified. One of the Berkeley players placed a hard tackle on our centre back. The referee immediately pulled him off and brought on another player in his place.

With five minutes left, Berkeley took the lead on a great counterattacking move down the left side.

Their midfielder dribbled the ball down the flank and passed it across the goal, where it was met by another Berkeley player to tap it in.

Coach Roberts immediately made a formation change to three defenders and pushed his right back into an attacking position.

At this point, we had to try to get a goal and tie the game. The coach’s decision worked, as the recently moved midfielder made the key pass to our striker, who scored a great goal with his right foot.

Now that the game was tied, with only three minutes left to play. We took a more defensive role now and dropped more players into the defence to ensure we got a draw.

For three minutes Berkeley attacked and we held them off to receive a much deserved draw. Both teams played very well and showed a lot of heart to try and win the lovely game of football.

Congratulations to all players on an awesome game.