Match Report

We turned up to play our Sevenoaks cup game at Cray Wanderers ground and were welcomed to what is apparently is the second oldest football club in the world. Judging by the pitch and changing facilities I think it's fair to say that the ground has been around just as long! The pitch was bobbly, the grass was long, there was a huge slope and in addition to that we had just two small benches in the changing rooms, with half the squad left sat on the floor! We knew it was a day when we had to go out, get a result and get the hell out of there and Darren and Vince's team talk echoed that, as well as making sure we didn't underestimate a young Orpington side who are currently struggling for results.

Our team was:

Sam Clarkson (GK)
Dominic Philby (RB)
Giorgio Fullone (CB) Capt
Richard Tapsfield (CB)
Matt Pragnell (LB)
Max Richardson (RM)
Lee Cross (CM)
Andy Jarvis (CM)
Dan Head (LM)
Russ Nethercot (CF)
Ben Slade (CF)

Subs

Nick Eales
Luke Dunne
Kane Valdes

Gio won the toss and we shot down first half, starting brightly and playing some decent football as often as the pitch allowed. Orpington were camped in their own half as we dominated possession with some good work being done down both flanks and we also pressed them into making mistakes whenever they did have the ball. The only problem we were having was scoring!

Watching from the back it seemed like most of the half was taken up by our corners of which we must have been into double figures. It was from one of these that the ball fell to Andy Jarvis 5 yards out but he saw his effort strike the outside of the post and go wide, I'll say no more. Ben Slade and Russell Nethercot were again working well together up front with Nev dropping off and linking play and Sladey running in behind, both went close with a couple of decent strikes on goal. We were eventually rewarded for our dominance about half an hour in when Gio Fullone floated a free kick to the back post which Matt Pragnell got a foot to, to prod it home, 1-0. At the other end Orpington hardly had a sniff apart from a couple of free kicks which were well defended.

Half time came with us leading 1-0 and Darren and Vince talked about keeping up the same level of performance and to make sure we got another goal quickly. As we were now shooting up the slope we also needed to make sure we didn't get pushed deep into our own half and instead keep a high line and continue to press Orpington as we'd done in the first half. The first meaningful chance of the second half fell to Orpington though as their right winger cut inside and hit a decent shot which was well saved by Sam Clarkson in goal. Not long after we grabbed our second goal when Nev collected a pass in field beat one player, I think with a nutmeg (that's what he tells me anyway!) and then smashed his shot low in to the bottom corner to leave the keeper with no chance, 2-0. That put pay to any slim chance Orpington had of getting back in to the game and also gave us even more confidence to carry on knocking the ball about on a difficult surface.

Darren and Vince then made some changes with Nick Eales, Luke Dunne and Kane Valdes all coming on for Dan Head, Richard Tapsfield and Max Richardson. Our dominance continued and Nick was finding plenty of space to attack down the left from where he was able to put in some decent crosses. Further chances came for Sladey who was unfortunate not to get himself on the score sheet and also Kane who ended a fantastic move by curling his shot just past the post.

All in all it was another good performance where for the second week in the row the result flattered the opposition a bit, on another day we could easily have had 5 or 6. However I'm sure with the squad that's in place and some key players due back this sort of performance can be transferred into the league and wins will start to be picked up. Man of the match went unanimously to Andy Jarvis who got over his early miss to put in another excellent display in the centre of midfield making some excellent challenges and keeping it simple whenever he got the ball.