A cold and wet Mother’s Day morning saw the Comets face the Thunderbolts. Earlier in the season, the Comets took the victory, but knew that they’d face a great challenge from their opponents.

The starting lineup for the Comets went with our shot stopper Isaac Swindell in goal, with HHC, and Blaine Walker starting in front of him in defence. Theo Henshaw started in that lone midfield role with Olan Brown on the right wing, Sonny Jackson on the left wing and John Rutherford in front of them playing as our striker playing a 2-1-2-1 formation. Waiting patiently on the bench was Kian Tipton and George Martin ready to make their impact when needed. Unfortunately, The Comets were without Harry Peacey, EM, and Jack Hobster, who were missing due to illness and being unavailable.

The game started and it was a very fiery start to the game from both sides with tackles flying in everywhere. HHC and Blaine had some work to do early on as the Thunderbolts looked very calm on the ball spreading the ball out wide and working their way through the gaps testing Isaac with some early shots. Theo was working extremely hard in the middle chasing everything down and making some fantastic tackles winning the ball back. 11 minutes into the game and Sonny picked up the ball on the left and switched it to Olan on the right who played the ball to John who hit a wonderful effort seeing the ball beat the keeper only to be kept out by the crossbar.

After a very energetic start to the game Kian replaced Theo in the lone midfield role and George replaced John upfront. With only 2 subs today, the coaches knew rotation was going to be key for the Comet's. The Thunderbolts were looking excellent on the ball, stringing together some lovely passes, and finding the gaps in our Comets defence. 15 minutes in and a lovely through ball from the Thunderbolts found their striker who was through on goal, he calmly took the ball to the left taking the ball around Isaac who come to claim it but couldn't quite get it. A shot was fired towards goal and Sonny made a fantastic goal line block, but unfortunately the rebound was followed up and the Thunderbolts forced the ball into the back of the Comets net putting them ahead.

The Goal fired the Comets up and straight from kick off Kian found Olan on the right wing who beat his man for pace and fired an outstanding shot towards the Thunderbolts goal which was brilliantly saved and tipped over for a Comets corner. Sonny delivered a wonderful ball into the box, but yet again, the keeper was excellent in calmly catching it. The Comets were defending well and some of the passing going forward was wonderful at times. With half time approaching, a long ball from HHC found George who played the ball back to Olan who hit another tremendous shot this time beating the keeper only to he denied by the crossbar yet again. The half time whistle blew, and the Comets had work to do.

A couple of changes at half time and Theo came on to support Kian in the midfield while Sonny had a rest and John came on to play right striker giving Olan a rest. The Comets now playing a 2-2-2 formation.

This game was very much end to end football with both sides creating some excellent chances. The Thunderbolts looked very dangerous every time they were attacking and another through ball found a gap in the Comets defence finding the Thunderbolts striker who hit a brilliant shot which was just too high for Isaac who got his fingertips to it but couldn’t stop it from going in the back of the goal putting the Thunderbolts further ahead after 28 minutes.

The Comets still weren't giving up and were still creating plenty of chances themselves, firing shot after shot at the Thunderbolts keeper who was simply outstanding today saving everything and most definitely keeping his side in front. A few mistakes from the Comets as they were diving in to try and get the ball, opened up space for the Thunderbolts to fire a couple of shots themselves, but this time it was Isaac’s turn to make some brilliant saves, some strong defending from Blaine at the back and some strong tackles too were keeping out the Thunderbolts attack.

An excellent bit of football down the right from the Thunderbolts and a great block again from Blaine gave the opposition another corner, the corner was swung in and it was collected by Isaac who played a brilliant long ball up the pitch, the ball found the feet of John who made a wonderful powerful run down the middle before finding the feet of George and with a lovely bit of footwork he managed to calmly take the ball around the keeper before slotting the ball into the back of the net, pulling a goal back for the Comets after 37 minutes. This sparked even more life into the Comets, and Theo and Kian were working so hard in midfield chasing everything down and winning some very strong tackles, John was still giving it absolutely everything tracking back brilliantly to help out defending and making some excellent powerful forward runs when attacking.

With the game being so energetic and the Comets working so hard it was time for Sonny to replace John on the right and Olan to replace George on the left, trying to mix things up a little bit to try and find the equaliser. Time was running out for the Comets and the game was still very much end to end, but play was starting to look in favour of the Comets. Some excellent dribbling runs from Sonny and some lovely one-two football with Theo opened up some space in the Thunderbolts defence with Sonny having another great shot which was terrifically saved again by the Thunderbolts keeper. Olan was still working hard on the left making some very quick and powerful runs on the left and delivering some great balls into the box but unfortunately the Comets just couldn't quite get onto the end of it.

Time very much against the Comets now and John came on for the last few minutes into a new role for him replacing Kian in midfield and forming a partnership with Theo. The Thunderbolts attempted to put this game to bed, but the defending from HHC and Blaine was great as the kept clearing the lines for the Comets time and time again, one last attack from the Comets came to nothing and the final whistle blew. The Comets just falling short and losing this great match.

The match was won by an outstanding performance from the Thunderbolts keeper, who got the admiration from the Comets coaching team congratulating him at the end of the game for his amazing performance. It would have been a different story with a full-strength Comets team allowing those extra options, but the effort and determination from the Comets available was outstanding today. They never gave up, with some key mentions needed. HHC and Blaine both played the full match, a first for the pair who worked together really well. John had to put all his energy into the match, playing as a striker, winger, and central midfielder throughout. Olan switching his game to mix up the tempo, and Sonny taking some damage from tough, but fair, challenges from opponents much larger than him, not that you’d know from our Spud getting the better of his battles overall. George helped himself to his nineth goal of the season whilst Kian, Theo and Isaac all demonstrated their key roles within this squad.

Supporters Player - Blaine Walker

Managers Player - John Rutherford

Blaine was very solid in defence for the Comets today, making some excellent tackles, some great defensive blocks and some fantastic clearances. Also, his defending at set pieces and corners were brilliant, showing his improved strength. Well done, mate.

John had an excellent game today playing upfront making some brilliant powerful runs taking on the Thunderbolts defence time after time and getting himself an assist with a lovely pass to George. Some excellent shots, one of them hitting the crossbar and was unlucky not to get himself another goal. When John came on into an unfamiliar midfield role, he was excellent at winning the ball back and playing some great forward passes. Well done, mate.

A big thank you to our parents and supporters and a massive thank you to our sponsor Matthew Walker from the whole of the Comet’s family.

Heanor Town Football Club

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