Just a week after drawing 3-3 away to Racecourse, it was their turn to visit us. We were at full strength, Wraggy started even though he was troubled with a thigh strain. The game was only a minute old when we forced a corner on the right. Simon sent it over and Dom powered the header into the net for an early lead. We had hoped to increase our advantage quickly but Racecourse came back strongly and put some sustained pressure on us, we could barely keep the ball and struggled to break out of our own half for the next 10 minutes. It was only a matter of time before an equaliser came. A ball was played through the middle on 13 minutes and Wraggy, who was clearly struggling, was caught out. The shot came in from the edge of the box, Adam made a great save but couldn’t hold on, the forward reached the ball first and blasted it off Adam into the roof of the net.
Any fear of our players heads dropping were forgotten almost immediately. From the restart, we pressed forward and got the ball out to Ollie, he raced past a defender into the area and was taken down by the goalie as he rushed out to make the save. The resultant penalty was struck into the corner by Cory. Wraggy indicated that he couldn’t continue and Elliot was sent on to play at right back, with Ryan moving into the centre of defence. The game evened out nicely, both teams were battling hard and there were a few chances being created but anything coming through the centre was being snuffed out by Ryan. On the half hour Ollie was away again and again the keeper came out to save at Ollie’s feet. This time he got it right and Racecourse cleared straight down the other end. A powerful cross was sent over from the right which hit Elliot square in the face and Adam reacted well to make the save. Adam made a great claim from a corner, coming off his line to pluck the ball out of the air. Two minutes before the break and Raffy stormed up the right wing and pulled back a stunning cross that beat the defence and goalie. Ollie was in with the header and nodded it wide when it looked easier to score into the unguarded net. He looked a little embarrassed at half-time, but we were still leading 2-1.
Graney had to leave at half-time so Chiv went on to partner Ryan at centre back. The management had concerns about how the defence would cope but we had no need to worry. Ryan and Chiv settled well getting some great tackles in and Ryan outpacing their forwards time after time. We had a great chance to increase our lead on 42 minutes. Foxy split the defence to find Moo and his shot brought a great save from the Racecourse keeper. In midfield, Dom was his usual busy self, although I think Racecourse had him earmarked as the dangerman from last week, they were straight on to him whenever he had the ball. He battled superbly all game. He was unfortunate though to give away a few free-kicks. It was a free-kick that led to the visitors 2nd equaliser. From deep and wide on the right, the ball seemed to evade everyone and their forward latched onto it to direct it past Adam after 54 minutes.
On 65 minutes, Ryan won yet another tackle on the edge of our box and started on a mazy run. He had dribbled by three or four opponents and the next one decided he had to stop him any way he could. The free-kick out on the left was curled over the defence to Simon, who had got through untracked. His first effort was blocked by the keeper but the 2nd attempt was fired over the sprawling goalie.
Racecourse weren’t out of it and kept pressing forward. But our defence was almost impenetrable. Racecourse drifted a high ball over our back four in the 73rd minute and Adam collected it well in the air only to be flattened by a visiting player. Chiv took the free-kick, playing to Elliot outside the box, he passed it inside to Dom who in turn fed Rob almost on halfway. Rob played a great diagonal ball out the Zac on the left and he curled a sweet pass behind the defence. Simon was onto it in a flash; he pushed the ball around the goalie and stroked it into the empty net. Total football. Any team at any level would have been proud of that goal.
4-2 is how it ended. It was a strong performance all round, particularly defensively and I don’t just mean the back four. We defended from the front and looked and played well as a team. Man of the Match was Ryan, with possibly the best individual performance of the season. If it was because his girlfriend was watching....can she come to watch every week?
