A glorious autumnal Saturday saw club favourites the Sevens at home, hosting Marden and looking to maintain their winning streak following back-to-back 7-0 victories. With a strong line up, they were quicker out of the gates than they normally are to the bar – and that’s quick – determined to notch up an early goal.

With a number of players returned to the line-up, including father and son duo Dan ‘The Mule’ and Joseph ‘JJ’ Kennedy playing together for the first time, Marden faced a formidable force with some excellent linkup play running from the stalwart defence team of Stuey ‘The Crab’ Ingleston and Simon ‘Huge’ Hunnibal through the mids of Jonno ‘MVG’ Ghaemian, JJ, seeking out Matt ‘Mjolnir’ Carter or Simon ‘Bakes’ Baker to bury the ball in the oppositions goal. However, despite virtually camping in Marden’s half, winning short corner after short corner, that final touch proved evasive.

Marden, clearly wary of the Sevens electric start the season had very much set out to defend and let the game come to them and did a good job of frustrating the home team and, with simple play and passing around the defence, were nullifying the relentless attacks presented. Speaking of electric, some of the runs and play from the back halves of the likes of Vernon ‘Mr Tumble’ Price to Josh ‘J-Lo’ on the wing along with pinpoint passing from Bakes and JJ along with some midfield marshalling from Borris ‘The Blade’ Nordone meant that opportunities were being created, just not that final killer touch. Half time concluded honours even.

A halftime reset saw the Sevens playing a more structured and composed game, again using the field well and good use of substitutions, allowing Steve ‘Woody’ Shaw and Chris ‘White Line’ Simpson to move well around the pitch, again creating further opportunities, eventually rewarded when Mjolnir’s shot evaded the keeper to hit a defenders foot on the line for a clear penalty flick which he duly competently buried.

The relief of a goal was clearly palpable to the home team, however this didn’t cause them to rest on any laurels, looking to push the game out of reach of the visitors who remained dangerous. However, Ops keeper Stuart ‘Milk Tray’ Peall largely played a spectator role, called upon to move only several times to palm over or kick away a rare shot, which seemed to suit his laid back, minimal movement style of play quite well. This didn’t arrest his vocal ‘encouragement’ of the home side to protect against forays close his goal though.

Then, with some 15 minutes of the half remaining, as if looking to invite the visitors back into the game, Paul ‘Luce Cannon’ Gordon inexplicably danced around the home team’s

D with the ball oblivious to his teammate’s encouragement to get rid of the bloody thing out harm’s way. This ‘tactic’ was discussed at length in the post-match debrief and agreed to not be employed henceforth.

The Sevens continued to push with some searing runs from the likes of Alfie Brooke and the ever-inspirational skipper Kennedy, however he was unable to unleash Lucille on the opponent’s goal to open his account for the season.

With the final whistle sounding, the Sevens cemented their incredible start to the season with a well-fought 1-0 victory, with three wins from three and 15 goals to none conceded.

Commenting in the post-match press conference, Skipper Kennedy was full of praise for his Mighty teammates. “To a man, everyone played their part today and played hard today. And, despite losing our shape from time to time, our play and game awareness – bizarre antics in our own half aside – was exceptional. Marden are a great side and clearly set out to make life difficult for us, but we kept pushing for the win to keep our great start to the season on course. We’ve a great squad this season, from our seasoned regulars to the young talents coming through the club, which is great to see and I’m very proud to have so much talent to draw from. And on a personal note, to be able to play a match with my son was a special for me and he’s been a great asset to the team, if a little vocal on the pitch – very much an instant Sevens player! We’ve had a great start to the season, but we’ve got some real tests coming up, with the likes of K-Sports next week, which is always a spicy encounter! Still, we’re confident and we’re determined to continue this vein of form no matter whom we’re playing – bring it on!”