Icarus Vets Squad v Defence Academy FC

A combination of youth and experience combined to produce a dominant Icarus display against Shrivenham on a hot and dry Defence Academy pitch. A number of Icarus players were asked to play out of position, but adapted quickly to assume the ascendancy from the first whistle. The Icarus wingers and forwards had a lot of joy down the flanks, and it wasn’t long before Mark Gilligan got in behind the full back and delivered an inch perfect cross for Dan Wright to head past the keeper. Minutes later, a confident Wright cut in from his wing, beat a man and fired home his second from the edge of the box.
 
To their credit, Shrivenham recovered well and worked their way back into the game, testing Rob Swinney in the Icarus goal on a couple of occasions. However, the ‘Icarus press’ was then deployed to great effect, as Rich Evans and Jim Schofield pressured the Shrivenham goalkeeper into an error, allowing Schofield to rob the keeper and stroll the ball into the empty net.
 
As the game progressed into the second half, Icarus’ superior fitness began to tell, as they began to create some excellent chances. In the end, it was a long ball from Ben Burton that split the Shrivenham defence, and Jim Schofield coolly finished underneath the goalkeeper. A few minutes later, the same partnership combined for Schofield’s hattrick to make it 5-0.
 
Icarus were then guilty of missing a number of excellent chances, but Tom Carrington was the first to break the streak with some good play to finish from close range. As the game neared its conclusion, Sam Taylor was finally rewarded for his hard work as he scored the rebound after a good save from his initial effort by the goalkeeper.
 
7-0 in no way flattered the impressive hard-working Icarus side. In reality, the game could easily have finished in double figures, but an experimental Icarus will be satisfied with the rewards for their efforts.