After an extensive Christmas break, Bexley returned to league duties in artificial conditions. Other teams had been playing so Bexley had games in hand on the teams around them; with maximum points pushing Baulsom’s team to joint top. The home run in this campaign had begun and it shouldn’t be forgotten Bexley were still unbeaten despite being the new boys in this league. A strong team was fielded, but a notable absentee in Steve Bird was absent again due to injury.
There was the inevitable rustiness from Bexley in the early stages with a ball not being kicked for a month. Eltham Phoenix had run Bexley very close at home, and were showing how good they were in the early stages by pressing Bexley, retaining possession, and looking dangerous in the final third. Bexley couldn’t get into the game, and were looking intimidated by their opposition. Eltham were sharper in every area, and would have gone ahead from a corner but James Hall cleared off the linesman saying no goal. However, this linesman was yet to deem himself utterly useless.
Bexley created no significant chances in the first half as Elton and Laurence had precious few scraps to feed off. The defence were defending competently if not desperately at times, none more so than with Rob’s spectacular over head kick clearance. Dan again showed the importance of a keeper’s vision at free kicks with a second top corner save in two games.
It looked like Bexley were going to hold on until half time, but Eltham took a deserved lead just before the interval; and the goal summed up the first half performance. Bexley second to the ball in midfield, on their heels in defence, second to respond to the defensive slip, and no-where near the rebound after the point blank save.
Inquests were held at half time at arguably the poorest Bexley 45 minutes of the season. Pete switched the formation to 4-5-1 to counter the midfield, and there was a general feeling the team had to put in more effort, and display more confidence on the ball.
There was a response in the second half as Bexley slowly went through the gears to the performance level expected. The game was now finely balanced and a good watch for the spectators. Elton had moved house from an offside position and was denied by a very good save from the Eltham keeper. The resulting corner met the head of Laurence but the Eltham keeper again was equal with a splendid reaction save.
Then came time for the officials to take centre stage. You would think having three qualified officials would make for a fair game. You would be wrong. The referee had let a strings of fouls go all game with no help from his assistance. It seemed if Eltham Phoenix shouted loud enough, they would be rewarded with a free kick of their own. It would get worse. Eltham were caught napping and a ball was played in behind the defence. The ball fizzed past Elton who was in an offside postion but clearly in active. Eltham stopped expecting a whistle, as Laurence pounced from a clear onside position with a great bit of forward play to round the keeper and slot home into an empty net. Inexplicably, the linesman raised his flag but refused to disclose who he determined to be offside and active.
There was also at the over end as Eltham showed good forward play to keep the back four on their toes and force efforts on target on the counter attack. Dan was lucky his lighting pace got him out of trouble after a return pass to Mark failed dramatically. The referee assured Bexley he had taken the Eltham time wasting into account revealing he played a 50 minute second half. In the end the second half performance deserved a point but it wasn’t to be thanks to an absolute shocking decision from the linesman, and a near faultless decision from the Eltham centre backs.
The unbeaten league run ends in January. A terrific achievement by Bexley won’t want to dwell on the record with Maroon XI waiting next week. A perfect opportunity to bounce back against a good side.
