The still unbeaten second XI travelled to Bath with even more confidence this week, bolstered by three players with first team experience this season. After a slightly later than, originally, planned departure from Sherborne, meaning a late arrival at the Bathampton playing fields, the boys had a brief warm up and were straight into the game. Shooting down hill in the first half, the team found life tricky on the uneven pitch. KES were well organised and tried to play through the centre of the park, congesting the play and stifling the passing game the Sherborne team enjoy playing. At the back Ollie M and captain Oscar W kept the KES raiders at bay, despite a couple of hairy moments where some scuffed clearances gave the King Edward’s attackers some half chances. Christian W and Freddie CC were bold going forward as ever, with both full backs linking up with their wingers, James E and Harry S respectively.

Playing in a midfield diamond, Ollie M and Wilf T began to assert themselves, feeding Ollie S and Arlo F who was leading the line. Wilf T, smooth like a midfield Rolls-Royce, provided great link up play with his midfield partner Ollie M and this bore fruit when, in the 21st minute, Ollie S calmly finished after a sustained spell of pressure.

And so, the first half ended much as it had begun, with an ebbing and flowing of attack and defence, with Sherborne holding fast, particularly with the introduction of Piers L whose robustness and bravery in defence was so impressive.

At half time the team felt they would get more action if we spread the play down the left. This they began to do very successfully. However, a counterattack and some sloppy defending gave KES the chance to equalise, and so they did, bundling home ten minutes into the second period. Casper G had little chance of saving this, and once again he proved brilliant between the posts, saving well, commanding his area and distributing the ball effectively.

This galvanised Sherborne and 6 minutes later, Oscar W’s deflected shot gave Sherborne their rightful lead, having really begun to dominate. James E was getting more and more opportunities on the left wing, so too James K who started to give the KES left back a few headaches.

Ollie S capped a fine display with his second goal on 65 minutes and Sherborne could have had a few more with James E, Piers L and Arlo F all creating scoring opportunities.

This was a fine display on a bumpy pitch and with little warm up so the boys should be really pleased with this result, extending their unbeaten run to 5.