Match Report

A disappointing result after being 2-0 up at half time.

This game had a very ‘end-of-season’ and ‘cup final hangover’ to it. People were not organised enough for this with too many people turning up too late and we looked disjointed. Everyone turned up like the season was over and attitudes were not right. I appreciate that evening fixtures are a nightmare in anyone’s book, but we knew about this game weeks ago and should be more organised. We also lost interest in the second half and did not seem fit at all. On top of that St John, Small, Dawson, Cleaver B, Cleaver, L, Carpenter, Martin, Williams J and Williams L were all missing with Wright arriving after kick off, so changes were forced - meanwhile Erith looked strong with all their regular players plus one or two very decent additions. My thanks to Adam Benningfield and Michael Clark for helping out when needed.

It was definitely a game of two halves with either team doing better against the strong wind than with it. Again we missed plenty of really good chances with Harrigan and Head not working the keeper or finding the target. We took the lead when Perkins raced through the midfield and finished powerfully over the keeper’s right arm. 5 minutes later we extended our lead when the quick thinking of Pragnell found the head of Head from a quick free kick. 2-0 up before half time and against the strong wind, it looked like plain sailing.

At the half we spoke about all the things that we did not do when the second half actually started. We spoke about over hitting the ball, but continued to over hit every pass, we spoke about not conceding early and we conceded after 8 minutes, we spoke about keeping the ball but we continued to give it away, we spoke about closing down high up the pitch and we let them bring it down and play it out of the back. Erith''s first goal occurred when we were split in half by one over the top ball through not closing down early enough or getting goal side of our men. The second followed with 15 mins to go after a deflected shot found a way past Edwards.

Across the 90 minutes it looked a fair result but we did miss a lot of clear cut chances and should have put the result beyond doubt in the first half. Manager''s man of the match was Dan Head who impressed with his never say die attitude, constant battling and nice goal. This was backed up by the players'' vote as well.

Let''s end the season on a high on Saturday.