Match Report

We’ve had a couple of games so far this season where we didn’t get what we deserved. So it was pleasing to steal three points today after a poor performance. I thought we played well for the first 20 minutes, and also in patches throughout, but for most of the game we were poor. This was surprising when it was such a flat pitch, maybe it was a bit small. Our team was:

Edwards(GK)
Benningfield (RB)
Fullone (CB)
Simmons (CB)
Pragnell (LB)
Havers (RM)
Nott (CM)
Lenton (CM)
Charlton(LM)
Evans (CF) (Captain)
Tanton (CF)

Subs:
Tapsfield
Landy
Saines

We went 1-0 up after 25 minutes. Stuart Lenton delivered a great corner towards the far post and Chris Charlton rose above his man to head powerfully into the goal. We had played some decent football up to this point. Tant dropped into the hole well and linked the play up with Spence down the right and Chris down the left. Daragh made a welcome return and put himself about as he always does, and Stu showed the composure on the ball we have come to expect.

Elite equalised with an innocuous goal. I’m not too sure what happened, the ball seemed to ricochet about a bit on the edge of the box before their guy shot into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. Mark then made an excellent save to keep it at 1-1 at half time.

We didn’t turn up as an attacking force for most of the second half. We seemed to panic on the ball and try and play at 100 miles an hour rather than playing the simple football we are good at. Defensively we played excellently and would have been 2 or 3 goals down were it not for a string of wonderful saves from Mark. Ricky and Giorgio both played very well as did Adam at right back and Pragnell at left back. When you think about how much possession Elite had it is testament to our defenders that all they created was a few shots from around the edge of the box. Mark deserved to win man of the match for saving these.

So we were basically holding on for a draw but as Elite started to chase the game gaps started to open up at the other end. Stu picked the ball up a couple of times in midfield and played me in down the left but it petered out. However the third time this happened it led to a goal. I tried to pull the ball back to Chris but played it behind him. Fortunately it rolled into Stu’s path who had done well to make up the ground and support the attack. Stu had a great first touch and drilled a shot towards the bottom right hand corner of the goal. It took a massive deflection off their defender and dribbled into the left hand corner before the keeper could get across to it. I see from the website that this has been put down as an own goal so I’m afraid I can’t question that, Stu! (Website ed: We don''t like own goals so we''ve changed it Stu...that''ll be an extra £5 on your subs though...

Although we didn’t play well today our work rate was excellent. We generally worked really hard and concentrated well, particularly the defenders. This result puts us firmly in mid-table. Had we won against Knights Old Boys (the 4-3 game) we would have been second. We should be really ambitious this season, we have got the quality to do really well. Our next league game is against Seven Acre Sports who are currently top so that is massive.

Next week however is the first round of the Queen Mary’s Cup away to Chislehurst Sports. They are in our league and have had a poor start to the season. However they may have played decent teams so we should expect a tough game. We need to get stuck into them straight away and look to do better than we did this week. We are due a proper cup run, especially since we have already been knocked out of one competition. If we lose on Saturday I will speak to Shirley and there will only be mackerel sandwiches available at the club.

Man of the match: Mark Edwards