Well lads, not quite the opening result we were hoping for after our excellent pre-season but a point is a good result considering we played the majority of the match with 10 men!
This was always going to be a tough game with 11 men so our task was made even more difficult when we had to start the game with 10 men after Matt decided he would hit the snooze button on his alarm!! We didn’t let this factor effect us too much and spoke about sticking together and try and play the football we know we can.
We started the game brightly enough and looked the most likely to score early on. The best opening chance fell to Ivan who latched on to a ball over the top from the defense but could only see his shot saved by the Corinthian keeper. We continued to press and were rewarded with the opening goal mid way through the second half. Chris managed to wriggle his way through the Corinthian backline and then coolly lift his shot over the onrushing keeper.
We were very much in control after scoring and were then relieved to see Matt turn up not long after we took the lead. With 11 men, it looked as if we could go on and dominate the rest of the game.
We then however decided to gift Corinthian an equalizer. A true comedy of errors at the back led to the ball breaking for Corinthian striker who then managed to lob Bruce from just outside the area. This was particularly frustrating considering how comfortable we were looking at the back but what was done was done and we had to try and recover. The equalizer seemed to give Corinthian a bit of belief and we didn’t quite look the same after. 1-1 at half time.
The second half was made up of very few chances. We huffed and puffed throughout but didn’t quite have that cutting edge in the final third whilst Corinthian seemed happy to sit back and try and catch us on the counter. Our best chance probably fell to Ben early on in the second half. Matt played a great cross in from the right but Ben mistimed his header and couldn’t get any kind of real connection and the chance past.
Our chances of getting a winner were made even more remote when Chris got injured midway through the second half. This mean playing the last 20 minutes of the game with 10 men which was made even more difficult in the hot conditions.
We were unlucky not to win a penalty towards the end of the game after Ivan was buddle over by both the Corinthian centre half and keeper but it wasn’t meant to be.
A tough game to be a part of lads but well done for digging in. Hopefully we can get our first win against new boys NAC this weekend!! COYH!!!
