Another warm day for our away game this week. The boys got off to a slow start with St Johns getting in behind the defence inside the 1st minute with only poor shooting preventing us going behind. The team responded well with a long clearance going to John who then found Ed inside the area and still with plenty to do tuck the ball low to the keepers left and it crept inside the post to make it 1-0 on the second minute.Our next attack was on 4 mins which resulted in a corner John put a good ball in and Ollie goalbound shot was cleared off the line. The lads kept up the pressure and Fish shot just wide after good work by Ed who layed the ball off for him. The lads were feeling a bit of frustation with the officials and this resulted in John coming off the pitch to have a calm down as we need him on the pitch in the right frame of mind. We had other good opportunities through the half with George having a good effort saved and Jack Morreli through on goal and will surely feel he should have done better.
Half Time St John 0v1 Sax
The second half started with 2 changes being made with Zach replacing Kris and the newly re-focused John replacing Ollie, the hot weather and big pitch beginning to have an effect on the players who were all looking a bit tired. St Johns were pressing hard for an equaliser but the defence and Jack S were coping well, we had been playing for 4 mins when a shot from John appeared to have crossed the line but play was waved on, we were hoping that all this pressure that we were putting saints under was going to pay off, the saints had a player sprint clear of the defence and Jack M used his pace to get back and put in an excellent challenge to save a shot on goal, this seemed to lift the saints who were putting us under alot of pressure which the defence were coping with and Tom Thurston constantly trying to play the ball out of defence to take the play back to them. The saint pressure eventually paid off as another ball from midfield caught the defence out and with Jack S closing fast the saints player picked his spot to make it 1 1. Jack S will feel he should have done better. Saints scoring seemed to wake the lads up and we started to play football again we got Ollie back on the pitch and the fresh legs made a difference as he got the ball in his own half and picked out John who done well to beat the defender a smash shot into the net, even though the keeper touched it it was too hot to handle that was in the 68th min and with 1 min to go Kyle went back on the pitch for Fish to help see out the last minute of the game. We were relieved to hear the whistle and I am sure that saints were disappointed to conceed late, but we were delighted. We now move on to a cup match next week so we will be looking to progress in that. This win should see us stay top of the league and we intend to stay there.
David
