A rather depleted squad travelled the short distance to Woodside the home of Pembury FC. The ever growing list of casualties now included Baggo and Hamish. With Latts, Grant, Zac, Nikul and Adam J already in the treatment room and Bowlsey and Hugo off on their hols the manager had to look to the reserves for numbers. Two young guns had been catching the eye in Kent and Sussex Retard reserve league and had obviously done enough to earn the call up, so Divy Davis and Spazzy spine KenDog were added to the match day squad. Even with the missing faces there was still more than enough in the locker to turn anyone over and confidence was high going in to the game unbeaten.
Dan Harrison was making his long awaited comeback after a lengthy lay off with a nasty injury to his vagina and Kenny was thrown straight in to partner Sgt Major Bishop at centre back. Straight from the off Blackham looked in control of the game and the chances started to come. Most of the joy was coming down the right flank with Huffers (filling in at right back) linking up well with Luke and 2Gun. At first it was just pressure and half chances. But as we turned the screw we looked more and more dangerous. On the half hour mark after a nasty turn Bayley had to be withdrawn with what looked like a recurrence of his knee ligament injury suffered last season. He was replaced by Bertie Freeman in the middle. Thom Nowell then hit the cross bar direct from a corner before Hobbit was slipped in for a one-on-one with the Pembury keeper. Unfortunately he lost his cool and swiped at it slicing it wide of the mark. Then some good play down the left and a clever run from Leppard saw him presented with a glorious chance but his powerful drive came back off the post. There was also a chance for Fergy in the first half. Another powerful run forward from Huffers resulted in the campest shot ever seen in B&A history (and Vince used have a few) which somehow found it’s way through to Fergals at the back stick but he lent back and powered it high in to the trees, we believe it landed just near the Hop Farm! The boys came off at half time berating themselves for not having taken the chances and kill the game off in the first half but still confidence was high that the three points were safe. The second half started in a slightly shaky manner but nothing to worry about until around 10 minutes an uncharacteristic mistake from Bish losing possession at the back led to a scramble about 25 yards from goal and a Pembury player having a speculative effort on goal. Fortunately for him it was well hit and had caught Dazza H off his line in no man’s land and the net rippled.
Still, heads didn’t drop and the brave boys in Black and Red kept pushing with the belief that it was nothing more than a blip and the win was still there for the taking. The chances kept coming. Hobbit and Luke switched roles with Hobbit going out on the right and Luke up the middle. Immediately after he change Bish found Luke with a lovely 50 yard through ball, with just the keeper to beat but he found him in fine form and the keeper made the block. Then a free kick in to the box presented Hobbit with a golden chance but his glancing header fell millimetres wide of the far post. Thom Nowell’s lovely free kick from the left found Ferg at the back stick but for some reason he ducked and kind of headed it backwards out for a goal kick. With a last throw of the dice Sgt Major Bishop was thrown up top to throw his wait around and cause some problems. Almost straight away he was doing just that. A lovely cross in from the right from Bert right on to Bish’s head at the far stick. He directed it across goal, the keeper rooted to the spot but it glanced off the crossbar and over to safety. Hathaway then surged forward, evading two challanges before swauring the ball to 2Gun but he couldn’t find the angle to shoot first time and his eventual effort was weak and no problem for the keeper. There were more chances before the end but it didn’t happen. It was the most frustrating game in front of goal for the B&A but oddly enough it wasn’t a bad display of football. It’s a massive blow to the title bid but it’s a long season and there is plenty more football to be played. Shooting practice all round this week.
