A strong Reedham display cut down title challenging Dynamo. The cold, frosty pitch did little to help Dynamo's pacey attacking threat but in truth, Dynamo ran into Reedham's best all round team performance of the season so far.
Reedham’s great play was epitomised by Simon Burns, whose man of the match performance saw him bag a quality hat trick, accompanied with some excellent link up play.
Reedham dominated possession and territory for the first thirty minutes of the match. Kieran Hunt had the first clear cut chance of the game. Gambling on a keeping mistake, he closed down the advancing goalie who obliged by making a hash of his clearance. Hunt, with the open goal at his mercy and under no pressure, then inexplicably placed his left footed effort wide of the post.
When Reedham kept the ball on the deck they looked like the quality outfit we have seen glimpses of all season. There was good link up play all over the pitch. Some nice work between Tom Gill and Simon Burns was stretching the Dynamo back line, whilst Fergus Ogg and Jordan Castle were utilising the space afforded them out on the wings. With Kieran hunt busy in the centre of midfield and Jack Horwitz tidying up and stroking the ball around beautifully, Reedham were in complete control.
Reedham had to make an enforced substitution after half an hour, Jack Horwitz’s fitness being tested after returning from a lengthy spell out. He made way for the more adventurous Michael Mason who immediately posed a more potent attacking threat, hitting a ferocious dipping volley just over the bar from a half cleared Reedham corner. Shortly afterwards Simon Burns opened the scoring, lashing a powerful shot against a Dynamo defender which looped the ball up and over the helpless keeper into the net. Reedham 1 – 0 Dynamo.
However, the change in the middle of the park was leading to a bigger gap developing between the solid looking back line and the forward line. Dynamo started to exploit the space that was opening up, countering with a more incisive thrust. Dynamo’s equaliser started in their right back position as Reedham gave the ball away cheaply and with all their midfield pushed too far forwards, the exposed back line struggled to contain Dynamo’s number 10’s explosive pace running at them. Drawing in both centre backs and then releasing the ball perfectly into his strike partner, the move was finished off as the forward went around Dan Carter in goal and stroked the ball into the empty net. Reedham 1 – 1 Dynamo
It was totally against the run of play and knocked the stuffing out of Reedham for the next few minutes. With Reedham’s shape and control in the middle of the park now lacking, Dynamo nearly got in again. A through ball down the side of the centre back let in the forward who got to the ball just before the advancing Dan Carter in goal. There was no way he was getting past though as Carter clattered into him and sent him tumbling. The only thing left was for the referee to make the decision as to whether it was a penalty or not and what colour the card should be. Fortunately for Reedham, the ref judged it just outside the penalty area and the Carter received only a yellow, thanks in part to Ricky Grimmer providing cover as the last man. The resulting free kick was caught easily enough by Carter.
Halftime: Reedham 1 – 1 Dynamo
The second half started with Reedham getting back control and pushing forwards without creating anything of note. Then the two best players on the pitch provided the next two genuine pieces of class. Firstly Simon Burns unleashed a magnificent volley hitting a dropping ball over the shoulder with his left foot that arrowed into the top right corner of the Dynamo net from 22 yards out. It was an absolute screamer and no more than Reedham deserved. Reedham 2 – 1 Dynamo
However, Dynamo won a free kick 25 yards from goal and their number 10 stepped up to curl a fantastic free kick in via Carters goalpost and into the top corner of the net. Reedham 2 – 2 Dynamo
That set back didn’t hold Reedham back. A neatly worked opportunity was created as the ball was pumped up to Barry Payne who flicked a header into Simon Burns path to run onto and lob the advancing keeper. Reedham 3 – 2 Dynamo.
Reedham took more control after regaining the lead, having learnt lessons earlier in the season about how to close out the game when in a winning position. The tactical substitutions shored up the last few minutes and Reedham were able to celebrate a big scalp in this league. It was no more than they deserved, bossing the vast majority of the game and looking solid all over the pitch. The back line deserve some special credit, having to deal with a pacey and potent attack in difficult conditions and limiting the opposition to so few attempts was a great effort.
