Bexley Athletic visited Clifton looking to stay in touch with the race for promotion. With Sporting St George B building a small lead at the top, there is littlebetween Barca, Orpington Park and Bexley Athletic all with hopes of playing in Division 2 next season. Having seen off higher league opposition last week in the midst of a strong run of results, Bexley were full of confidence. Clifton would bring a different challenge with their intimidating style and it would be interesting to see if Bexley could keep the momentum going.
With Mark Baulsom absent this week, the crucial responsibility of leading the warm up fell to Steve Bird, who took this his stride with some fantastic jogging across the pitch followed by stretching and ball work. This put Adam in a strong position to win his seventh toss in a row. The game started with both teams in an attacking mentality needless to say neither goalkeeper was tested in the opening exchanges. The first real incident occurred 12 minutes in when a clumsy challenge by Lee inside the box by the by-line left Clifton number 10 to utilise the small contact made and dive to the floor leading to a penalty being given. Adam’s comment of “very soft” would be accurate but you have seen them given. After a small debate as to who was taking the penalty number 10 stepped up to strike into Dan’s right corner but this was anticipated, tipping the ball onto the post. The rebound squirmed agonisingly across the goal line before Kev slid in and cleared.
After the penalty Bexley controlled the match defending as well as they did the previous game restricting the opposition to few opportunities. Bexley had their chances with the attackers whistling a few shots narrowly wide. Clifton did have the ball in the net but it was ruled out with number 10 clearly offside. Following this, he was given a stern warning for his language towards officials. A pass across the box cut out by Lee and a strike narrowly wide concluded their opportunities in the first half. The deadlock was broken 37 minutes in when Matt slipped in to pounce on a short goal kick from the goalkeeper. With a narrowing angle, Matt put his ambitions of the Golden Boot to one side as he slid in Laurence to tap in. With a strong grip on the midfield, Bexley added to their tally when Adam put through Laurence who calmly slotted past the on rushing goalkeeper. Two clinical finishes gave Bexley the advantage.
2-0 was the score at half time, but a crisis looked to be on the cards as Adam in his attempt to hit a left footed volley had put two match balls over the fence. Half time instructions were to be more composed when in on goal, clearly Bexley were looking score more goals. Aaron was bought on for John with James dropping to right back.
It was anticipated that Clifton were to attack Bexley from the whistle but quite the opposite occurred. Elgin played in down the left was surely aiming for one of his strikers in the middle with his cross. As it happened it fell to Aaron who clearly enjoys playing at the meridian scoring his second goal of the season with a fine effort. Any hopes of a Clifton comeback looked to have gone.
Bexley were clearly the better team. An opportunity for a second goal fell to Aaron in similar circumstances but a ballot style pirouette failed to enable him to connect with the ball. Matt had an opportunity one vs one which was well saved by the goalkeeper. Clifton did have their opportunities most notable a move down the left played across the box fired over from 15 yards.
With the game heading towards it’s conclusion, Bexley’s excellent defending began to slip. Clifton were getting more possession in midfield and the defensive were not winning the physical battle. Perhaps put off by the number 10’s shouting on the sideline Bexley were caught out when a through ball evaded the defence. It was pulled across to a free player inside the box who had the freedom of Greenwich to take a touch and find the bottom right corner. With 7 minutes to go Clifton were starting to claw their way back in it and continued to look threatening in attack, but it the ended it counted for little.
Final score of 3-1 perhaps flattered Clifton slightly as their goalkeeper had also tipped over Adam’s free kick and saved from Matt in the first half. Another good team effort with Steve and John (then James) playing well at full back and Laurie playing his strongest game in the season, clearly the best midfielder on the pitch today. Next week its back to the cup and even though Bexley have very strong opposition they should not be intimidated as it would appear they could beat any team at this level in ninety minutes with a good performance.
Important Stats:
· Unbeaten in 2011 with five wins and a draw scoring 20 and conceding 7
· 4th in the league, two points behind Barca and Orpington Park with a game in hand
· The strongest defensive record in the league conceding 16 goals, 3 goals stronger than top side Sporting St George B
· Only unbeaten Sporting St George B have lost less games than us in the league
(Ratings this week by Peter Baulsom)
