Despite a dominant second half display, Sinclair United came away pointless away to Finmere - losing 1-0.
United made several changes to the side that lost to FC Langford last week, with Karl Woodcock coming into centre midfield in place of Ian Timms, and Matt Jeffs replacing Luke Whitehead at left back. Josh Nash returned to the starting 11 with Luke Butterworth sitting behind him in attack.
It took United a while to get into the game and through a defensive mistake they fell behind in the 15th minute. Following goalkeeper Stuart Ciballi making a comfortable save, his long throw was caught between Adam Timms and Will Jones and intercepted by the Finmere midfielder. He did well to react quickest and lob the ball over Ciballi, despite the United keeper getting a hand to it.
Despite the initial mistake, Ciballi recovered well and was never really seriously tested throughout the whole game.
It was the wake up call for United, who were not at their best compared to last week, and they instantly went searching for the equaliser. However the visiting side suffered a run of bad luck midway through the first half when Jones, and then Jeffs were forced off with injury - leaving United to make their only substitutes early on.
Despite Nash then being on the end of a nasty leg injury, United kept pushing hard and started to get on top of the game. A flowing move down the right involving Nash, Jason Pritchard and Ben Riley saw the latter unleash a fine shot that looked destined for the far corner. But the Finmere keeper did well to get down and push the ball past the post for a corner.
Riley worked well into the box again towards the end of the half, and with some nice interplay with Butterworth and Woodcock, Luke Jarvis was unable to get his shot on target.
Manager Steve Nash made some changes at half time, with Butterworth coming back into a midfield three to make a 4-5-1 formation and the added man in midfield started to take its toll. Time and again, the trio of Butterworth, Riley and Woodcock were able to get onto the ball and try and feed Nash through, who despite his earlier injury, did well to find a way through the Finmere defence.
With Ben Washington switching to right-back, it was both him and Pritchard that were trying to exploit their pace down the right side. And following a great ball over the top of the defence by Riley, Pritchard managed to get onto the moving ball but was unable to get his shot on target.
United kept believing they could get a draw from the game, and kept pushing away - having the majority of the possession in Finmere's half. But they were unable to seriously test the Finmere keeper. Butterworth did have the ball in the back of the net however, but was ruled to be offside.
Riley and Woodcock kept battling in the midfield centre, looking to feed Butterworth and Nash and through a succession of corners looked to find that elusive goal.
Chance after chance fell to United as they looked to find the equaliser, with Finmere camped in their own half. Despite the unfortunate goal. United's defensive back four were commanding once more, with man of the match Adam Timms standing out.
The final whistle marked the end of a frustrating day for United. Boss Nash will feel his side had certainly done enough to travel back to Banbury with at least a point following their impressive second half performance.
The concentration levels were certainly up there once more, and seeing the United players with their heads in their hands at the end of the game showed how disappointed they really were with the result.
United face Chesterton in their first home game of the season at Hanwell Fields next Saturday, with Nash expecting his young side to come away with nothing less than three points.
UNITED: S Ciballi, W Jones (P Rogers 15), A Timms, L Jarvis, M Jeffs (D Wiles 30), J Pritchard, B Riley (c), K Woodcock, B Washington, L Butterworth, J Nash
Man of the Match: A Timms
