The atmosphere could be cut with a knife. Luke had hurt in his eyes, but fire in his belly. He stood on the centre spot flicking the ball from one foot to the other. The referee blew the whistle and he moved the ball.
The play was fluid with great passing and movement off the ball. The control exhibited by Luke was akin to any great player, the team seemed to be playing as one, in unison with the captain clearly at the helm as he should be and has been for the last 3 seasons!
By the half time whistle Luke had scored a hat-trick with the most impressive performance this writer has seen him play and believe me I have seen all of his games!
The 6’ 3’’ defender for the opposition was completely out classed (I wonder how big he will be when he grows up). At one point, I thought Luke was going to run under his legs to get to that goal! The goals were sheer brilliance all three of them. This kid ran the full 45 minutes in 43 degree heat and left the field without even a smile.
They started the second half with the same speed and passion as the first, with Luke hammering one in from almost the half way line.
The opposition passed the ball really well and sneaked a goal past our keeper, who I think should have done better, making it 4 -1.
To silence his critic Luke took the ball on the left from the keeper, ran passed almost every player on the field and hit the ball with such ferocity that the goal keeper had absolutely no chance, the back of the net expanded and I thought the ball was going to end up in the stands! Incredible!
The final whistle blew with the score standing at 5 – 1. Luke scoring all our goals and this writer unfortunately forgetting to ask who scored theirs, but to be quite frank it didn’t really matter.
Luke did what he needed to do; he firmly stamped his authority on the grass and on the team. Let’s just hope that the next match he manages to flash us that cheeky smile!
Susanne Al-Jouida xx
