23/09/2025
Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA Flourish League Division 2
RUCST 2 0 - 2 Praetorians
On Sunday the Praetorians took the short trip over to Wickersley to play their first league fixture of the season against RUCST2. They are a brand new team to the league this season and a team that we have never played before so the team had no idea what to expect when they turned up.
The fixture was also on grass, normally an immediate bogey for the team having lost all of their fixtures on grass last season, so they knew they would be in for a tough afternoon.
The team has seen a lot of new faces over the off-season so working out the best formation for the team was going to be hard enough, never mind working out which position would be best for each player. The manger went over with good squad numbers of 16/17 players but had to make some last minute changes due to some players having to drop out of the squad due to illness and other commitments.
During the first 20-25 minutes of the game both teams were trying to settle into the game and find out the best way to break down their opposition and chances were limited with neither team really creating too much pressure. For some reason it was decided that we were going to have a water break roughly halfway through each half. After the break we started to grow more into the game, and despite the best effort of Ryan, who almost spectacularly put through his own net, with a mis-cued clearance that came back off the post, the sides went into the half time break at 0-0.
We also had a penalty award waved away by the referee when the keeper clearly took out Tyler, despite getting the ball first, he couldn't stop his challenge and brought him down inside the box, but the referee couldn't be moved and play continued, despite our protests.
In the second half there were some changes made to the formation to try and compensate for the fact that we had quite a significant slope in our half of the pitch. This only lasted for a short amount of time and then the team changed to a new formation.
In the second half there were a lot more opportunities to score for both teams and Lucas, in the Praetorians goal was having a great game making some crucial saves to keep the game level.
After the second water break of the game, the message was to go for the win. First game of the season, and although a point would be nice, it was felt that we could do better and get all three points to take back with us.
Some slight tweaks were made and these were about to pay off. After having several chances to take the lead, we knew that our time would come and that a goal was going to be scored, it was just a matter of when and who.
The first goal came from a somewhat scruffy build up, with Adam getting a pass on the ball to Chris Felters who fired the ball home past the keeper, giving him little chance to save it. A well deserved goal that put us in front, but we felt that this wouldn't be enough. If it wasn't for the fine efforts of Lucas it definitely wouldn't have been.
The second goal was old school route one, with a long kick from Lucas in goal that travelled the majority of the length of the pitch with Tyler Gaffney getting onto the end of it, he managed to get a powerful shot away which rifled into the net. A massive goal for the team to give us some breathing space and a goal that was thoroughly deserved for Tyler after working hard for the full game. It clearly helped with the frustration he was experiencing finally getting that goal.
The whole team put in a massive effort during this game and thoroughly deserved to get something out of it. The starting eleven created a sound foundation for us to work from and when the subs were made they came on and impacted the game. A great start to the season and now we go back and look at working on areas for improvement for our next fixture.
The The Styrrup Man of the Match is Lucas Revell. Despite not being his preferred position, but taking it on as a favour to the team, he had an amazing game in goal. Making multiple saves throughout the game and some crucial one on one saves which could have made the result completely different.
Massive shout out to RUCST2, a great bunch of lads, and the club wishes them well for the rest of the season, we are looking forward to welcoming them to Rosso later in the season.
As always, many thanks to our club sponsors, without you, none of this would be possible and if any of you would like to make a donation to the fund raising then this would be greatly appreciated. Anything we can raise would be put to great use.
The Outstations - Home Kit Sponsor for Urbanae
Andys Man Club - Away Kit Sponsor for Urbanae - Home and Away Sleeve sponsor for Praetorians
Purple Turtle Tattoo and Laser Studio - Home Kit Shirt Sleeve Sponsor Urbanae
Insight Traffic Solutions Ltd - Home kit sponsor Praetorians
Ideal Financial Management LtdIdeal Financial Management Ltd - Away kit sponsor for Praetorians
Andys Man Club Doncaster Andys Man Club Rotherham