BBOB made it four wins out of four in the league against a very determined Rottingdean team. It was a tale of two halves and BBOB were by far the better team in the first. After some early near misses they took the lead in the eleventh minute with some good close control on the edge of the area between Matt Barton & Lee (Chief) Madigan, his initial shot was saved by the keeper but his follow up found the top left hand corner! BBOB increased their lead two minutes later, a long ball from right back Paul Barton was won by Matt Barton, he found fellow striker Chief in space and he lobbed the on-rushing keeper.
Following this BBOB enjoyed a lot of possession and attacking football, Rottingdean showed their frustration with two players picking up yellow cards. BBOB made it three in the 31st minute, this time a perfectly weighted ball from left midfielder Dan Buchanan found striker Matt Barton in space and he headed over the keeper into the net. In the 43rd minute a great passing move from the BBOB attack found right midfielder Ed Wyeth in a great scoring position in the six yard box, his close range effort was somehow saved by the Rottingdean keeper. From the resulting corner Rottingdean cleared the ball and counter attacked, they almost reduced the deficit with a well taken shot from the edge of the box; luckily the shot went narrowly wide. Half time 3-0.
BBOB never got going in the second half and allowed Rottingdean too much space and time to play their aggressive long ball game! Their first goal came in the 52 minute from their midfielder whose over hit diagonal long ball sailed over the BBOB keeper Craig Watson in the top left hand corner. Shortly afterwards right midfielder Ed Wyeth was replaced by James Sansom-Constantini. BBOB continued to battle but found themselves pegged back by the feisty Rottingdean team. Luckily Rottingdean were guilty of missing two close range efforts as the BBOB defence were starting to feel the pressure. In the 65th minute, the Rottingdean left back was dismissed for a second yellow (although he could have possibly gone for his first offence in the first half for kicking out!), after being tackled by James Sansom-Constantini, he attempted to place James into a headlock and wrestle him to the floor, he failed!
Unfortunately Matt Barton had to leave the field of play with a badly bruised ankle after a late tackle received from a Rottingdean centre back, just as he fired a shot over the bar, the referee didn't see the foul! Matt Barton was replaced in the 73th minute by Ben Wheatland and Dan Buchanan was replaced at left midfield by Keith Churchward.
Rottingdean's second goal came in the 77th minute, this time BBOB failed to clear a long ball from the Rottingdean defence, and after his first shot hit the post a Rottingdean midfielder buried his second effort into the bottom left hand corner.
BBOB saw out the rest of the game, they made some good passing moves but found no way through the strong and improving Rottingdean defence, Rottingdean resorted to long range efforts as the game came to it's end. BBOB deserved the result, but only just, and perhaps the lesson learned here is no matter how well you are playing, being 3 nil up at half time is never enough to guarantee a comfortable win!
Match report by Paul Barton
