The only two unbeaten teams in the Thurlow Nunn Youth League faced each other for the first time this season in a much-anticipated meeting. Both sides won their respective leagues last season, and with the teams in the same league this season, the two teams were destined to battle it out for the title.
Histon put out a strong team with three first team players in the matchday squad. And this showed in the first 20 minutes as they raced into a four-goal lead. Struresteps put the Stutes into the lead on 9 minutes and Starling extended the lead on 16 minutes. Goddard headed in on 18 minutes to make it 3-0 to Histon, and then two minutes later Starling tapped in to score his second of the night and put his team 4-0 up.
The young Bury Town side hadn’t been in the game up until this point. Many teams may have simply given up, but not the Blues. They rallied and created a number of chances in the second part of the first half. Noah Blake headed narrowly wide on 23 minutes. On the half hour, Blake put in a dangerous cross and Thomas French was about to tap it in only for the ball to be cleared for a corner. Owen Lavery took the resulting corner and Lewis Morley was denied a goal by Histon’s goalkeeper Peter Tzoris. Finally, in added on time, Noah Blake sprinted onto a through ball wide on the right wing, and with the keeper sprinting out of the area to try to intercept the ball, Blake skilfully lobbed him from distance to score Bury’s only goal of the night. 4-1 at the break to Histon. A tough half for Bury, but a spirited display from the boys nevertheless.
Bury Town brought on Seth Garza, Josh Tennial and Tyler Baxter after the break in an attempt to get back into the game. Garza, in particular, steadied the Blues in the middle of the pitch. Although not quite as dominant as in the first half, Histon still looked the stronger side, and on 51 minutes, Goddard got his second of the night to make it 5-1 to the Stutes. Two minutes later, substitute Cassius Abood slotted the ball past Cameron Revens in the Bury goal to score the Stutes’ sixth of the night.
Once again, though, Bury dug in and showed why they had previously been unbeaten in the league. Noah Blake, a strong presence throughout the game, had a shot tipped round the post on 60 minutes. A minute later, Freddie Harris put through Gregory Fraser who shot narrowly wide. With substitutes Sam Armitage and Toby Lawson adding some fresh legs, Josh Tennial tried an audacious lob from outside the area on 72 minutes. Following this, Tyler Baxter headed in from a corner, but the referee saw an infringement nobody else saw and disallowed the goal.
Histon pressed again in the final minutes of the game, but there were no more goals. The Stutes deservedly took all three points to extend their lead at the top of the table. A difficult night for the young Bury side, but they deserve credit for a spirited display and some good performances. They will look to put their first league defeat of the season behind them on Monday night when they host Long Melford back at Ram Meadow, 7:45 pm kick-off.