Squad upbeat after home defeat

Irish Centre 0 Ossett Town 1

It was just one of those afternoons for the Huddlers but hopefully it will be the reverse on Thursday night!!  The Huddlers went into the game in their usual war like fashion with the Huddle some what intimidating the Ossett players with the loud roars that are home to all of the ICFC games.

This attitude was reflected in the opening encounters, with a few unsauvory incidents, but the home side certainly seemed to have the upper hand with their attacking flair penetrating the Ossett defence.  Both teams were finding it difficult to adapt their play to a pitch that had more bunkers than St.Andrews and was very dry.  This caught players out on several occassions with the ball bouncing awkardly.

Quinn, Kitterick, Bell and Tattersley all came close in the first half yet failed to convert.  Ossett had a dubious offside against them which ruled out their only shot on target in the first half. 

Bell pictured worked hard but had few opportunities yet came close with a brilliant 30 yard freekick.

The second was as entertaining as the first with both sides pushing forward for that elusive opening goal.  After fifteen minutes of the second period the referee awarded Ossett a corner that looked nore than suspicious but the IC players restrained thamselves from arguing with  a referee that was rather inconsistent and from the corner came the opening goal with the Ossett striker rising above the defence that had looked solid throughout to head home. 

Soon after a late tackle on Quinn sparked a scuffle in the centre circle that resulted in little action from the referee. Then came the bombardment on the Ossett goal in a furious attempt to grasp an equaliser, that didn't come, after countless opportunities.  Manager Chris Helliwell tried to add something extra to the game by pulling off Helliwell jnr for Kalinowski but the Huddlers were the victims of their own poor finishing. 

Helliwell pictured replaced by Kalinowski in the final period of the game to try and grab a point.

Speaking to the players after they were all still very upbeat Tattersley said 'obviously its a big dissapointment today but I think we may have had are minds on Thursday and it would be great if we can get are revenge then.'  The odds on the Huddlers lifting the cup have gone up from 6-1 to 8-1.

The team was: