BBOB returned to winning ways after last week's cup exit, Jac Edwards returned from injury to left midfield and Ed Wyeth returned from his holidays to slot in at right midfield. Almost straight away BBOB took the lead when in the third minute Matt Barton's effort rebounded off the bar to his fellow striker Dan Buchanan, his re-directed header found the back of the net! Before TMG knew it they were further behind, BBOB forced a corner, and from the resulting cross from Ed Wyeth, BBOB top scorer Matt Barton placed his left foot volley through the crowd into the net! For the next twenty minutes, BBOB kept the pressure on the TMG defence and kept the ball well, but were unable to find a way past the opposition keeper. He made two fine saves from Jac Edwards & Dan Buchanan and right back Paul Barton found himself in a scoring position just inside the area, his shot left the pitch on the left hand side resulting in a throw-in to TMG!!
TMG started to improve and for around ten minutes BBOB lost their way, TMG hit BBOB with a number of counter attacks and began to take further control of the game. The BBOB defence cleared their lines well, but TMG should have done better with the chances that they made for themselves!
Against the run of play, BBOB increased their lead in the 39 minute, a long kick from BBOB keeper Craig Watson found Matt Barton on the left near the TMG corner flag, his perfect cross was superbly volleyed in by Ed Wyeth from 12 yards out. Before the kick off central midfielder Michael McMahon was replaced through injury by James Sansom-Constantini.
Shortly after this in the 41st minute, a well worked move down the left found Jac Edwards in space, his pass found Matt Barton on the edge of the TMG area, and his first time effort lobbed the stationery TMG keeper to surely make the three points safe for the league leaders! Half time 4-0.
The wind appeared to play some part in both team's performances and BBOB were against the wind in the second half, and the conditions were getting worse! TMG were determined to get on the score sheet and had BBOB pegged back early on. In the 53rd minute midfielder Howard Lloyd was booked for dissent after disagreeing with ref over a foul given against Ed Wyeth. Two minutes later BBOB increased the lead to five with another goal from a corner, this time taken by Jac Edwards, his cross found Matt Barton, who completed his hat-trick and his 14th league goal of the season from close range, after the ball ricocheted off the keeper!
TMG refused to give up on the game, and got their reward for persistence in the 65th minute with a well taken effort placed into the bottom right hand corner of the BBOB goal. Shortly after this Ed Wyeth, struggling with cramp, was replaced by Steve Maskell at right midfield. In the 78th minute TMG reduced the deficit further, when the BBOB defence failed to clear a long ball down the middle and ball fell kindly to one of the TMG strikers from close range. BBOB responded by scoring their sixth goal of the day, Paul Barton's throw-in found striker Matt Barton and he slotted the ball across the six yard box to the unmarked Jac Edwards to finish from a tight angle!
The drama wasn't finished there! In the 84th minute, Howard Lloyd blocked a forward pass with his arm just inside the BBOB half and the referee judged this to be a second yellow card offence and a red card followed, this was a shock to everyone and protests could be heard from both sets of players! In the last few minutes of game two more TMG players were booked for what appeared to be dissent and BBOB's James Sansom-Constantini was booked in stoppage time for a bad tackle, it took the referee a further ten minutes to write down James's name!!
This was a well fought game by both teams which involved some strange decisions by the ref against both teams, BBOB have now won 9 out of 9 in the league, and a win next week will guarantee a third place finish! Surely BBOB will be aiming higher though?
Match report by Paul Barton
