The pitch is in great condition and after the leaves were cleared you could see the two lads work where they had been up and marked the pitch. The weather was perfect for football with the overnight rain making the pitch slick.
The game started off with Bramford putting the lads under pressure but they coped well and after 5 minutes put the Bramford goal under its 1st attack and forced a corner. Tom put in a great ball which was half cleared to the edge of the area, Ryan hit a shot that was goal bound but a great save kept it out, unfortunately for Bramford it was their defender and not the keeper. The ref had no choice but to show a red card. Penalty awarded and Bramford down to 10. Ryan stepped up and slotted it past the keeper. Sax 1 - 0 Bramford. The next 5 minutes were all Sax as Bramford adjusted to being a player short but the opposition showed their quality and got back into it and it was hard to tell they were a player short. Jack had his first action on 13 and made a comfortable save and again 2 minutes later dealt well with a Bramford cross. Bramford pushed the back four hard and they were soaking up all the pressure but we were nervous on the touchline even though the lads looked happy. On 24 Sam made a great tackle on the edge of the area but the ball was quickly back to Bramford who played a through ball that Jack came out and cleared up. Tom was having an excellent game at the back and taking all the corners.
The half finished end to end with all the lads working hard and we came in with a 1-0 lead.
2nd Half
We started the 2nd half better after some words at half time to get the lads to believe that they are as good as the opposition and to believe in their own ability.
On 43 we got a free kick in our own half that Jack took, it fell to Benji and he hit the post. 47 minutes saw our 1st corner of the second half. Tom put in another good ball that Bramford dealt with well. Bramford had an attack and Jack made a good save that went out for a corner. The sax lads stayed solid and got it away. Jack made another good save and it was a repeat of the other corner with the Sax defence looking solid. On 60 minutes we broke up a Bramford attack and the long ball from Finchy went to Ryan who raced clear and lobbed it over the stranded keeper, a great finish. Sax 2 - 0 Bramford. 1 minute later Bramford had a great attack followed by a shot that again Jack saved well. On 65 minutes Bramford got their reward when they scored with a header. The boys started again and put the Bramford goal under pressure after we thought we should have a free kick it went the other way, Kyle said too much and got a yellow for dissent. On 70 minutes Jack came out again and cleared up an attack. Sax killed the game off on 76 minutes when Connor who had been playing really well got the ball and scored the goal of the game with a left foot lob from 20 yards that the keeper had no chance, with a contender for goal of the season. Bramford hadn’t finished and they hit the bar at the end of the half.
The back four and Jack were excellent again today with Sam and Tom being the stand out two on the pitch and Jack superb in goal. Ryan and Connor took their chances well and Benji must have covered every blade of grass on the pitch and was unlucky not to score. All the boys done well under pressure from a very good team that didn’t show they were down to 10 men.
We have gone 3rd in the league which is a good result and we have to keep up the standards that we have set if we want to stay there.
Well done for a good result.
David
