Match Report

Seven Acre absolutely hammered us today. Whilst we did not play well I thought they were outstanding. Their movement was terrific, every time they attacked they had 4 or 5 players steaming forward offering good passing options to the man in possession. Playing like that they deserve to win the league. Our team was:

Wright (GK)
Martin (LB)
Pragnell (CB)
Simmons (CB)
Tapsfield (RB)
Small (RM)
Lenton (CM)
Charlton (CM)
Head (LM)
Nethercot (CF)
Evans (CF) (Captain)

Subs:
Tanton, Havers, Morton

Their first goal came after 20 minutes when Matt was unable to hold a shot from outside the box and their striker was quickest to the rebound. Soon after this we lost Russ and Ricky in quick succession. Russ got a leg injury and Ricky got a bit of concussion. Tant and Spence came on upfront, Chris moved to centre back and I dropped back into centre mid. Until that point our attacking threat had been quite limited, although we had strung one or two decent moves together. These generally culminated in the ball being played to Sam Small on the right wing and he was unlucky with the bobbly pitch on a couple of occasions. They made it 2-0 before half time when they won back possession from us and switched it well to their right wing. Their right midfielder stormed forward and beat Matt from close range.

If I remember rightly it was only 2-0 at half time, but it became 3 soon afterwards. We lost the ball in centre mid and they slipped it through clinically for their third goal. As Danny said afterwards, the third goal summed up the difference between the 2 teams. You can afford to give the ball away against most teams in the SLA because they won’t punish you like Seven Acre did today. For the third goal the guy who won the ball had one great first touch and then with his second touch he played his mate with a great pass. They moved the ball like that all day and basically we just couldn’t keep up with them.

I can’t remember the fourth goal, but I know the fifth goal was disappointing because it looked like someone should have been able to get a challenge in. To be fair the game was dead by then anyway. Pete replaced Sam Small midway through the second half. This was the first time this season we have been genuinely humiliated, let’s make sure it is the last. Dave Martin was sent off today too, and all in all it was a bit of a disaster.

On the bright side, as Spence has pointed out, NASFAT beat Bridon this weekend. In addition to that, Seven Acre will be playing lots of midweek games as I was speaking to their captain and they are still in 3 cup competitions. You can always drop points midweek when you haven’t got all your players available. So there is still a long way to go. The main thing for us is to pick ourselves up after a couple of disappointing results as we have a challenging game against Old Town New Boys this weekend. They are the team who we beat at the STC Ground with a last minute goal from Russ. We will be on the top pitch as the Firsts are at home.