3rd defeat in the League for the Lions and the second at the hands of Bookham Reserves in a match where we once again paid for our wastefulness in front of goal. However, the upshot of a Sunday that saw all 8 teams of the division in action, was that both New Prince and Double H also suffered defeats so we stay in second, behind by just two points from our next opposition.
Line up:
Dorian (GK)
Phil (RB), Simon (CB), Matt R (CB), Julian (LB)
Kyle (RM), Dale (CM), JP (CM, Kevin (LM)
Lee (CF), Scott (CF)
We had to hire out the Chrystie Rec' hillside pitch as our own was waterlogged, which is obviously something that's never going to happen to Bookham's pitch. This one was in better shape than the the other we played on last time, in that the grass had actually been cut.
We knew this was a must win game and we started positively with early chances for Lee and Scott going one-on-one with their keeper, but neither got their first couple of efforts on target. At our end, the first in a succession of free kicks inside our half, rebounded to safety off the corner of post and cross-bar. We came closer to opening up the scoring, with lots of shots on target, but without enough pace or width to get past their keeper who had a decent game. Dale had an effort that had little pace on it but was still going in and had to be palmed away. Lee and Scott were both frustrated again in one-on-one situations and it was beginning to feel like one of those days.
They came close with an almost point-blank shot that was past Dorian but came off the foot of the post. The effort and commitment on ours side couldn't be faulted because we were more than matching them for possession and creating more clear-cut chances than them, but we just couldn't get that first goal.
Towards the end of the half, our defence which had been pretty solid until then, got undone by their first corner of the match which they took short and quickly whilst we were still organising ourselves. The ball came into our area and found its way between JP and Kev. Unfortunately, the only way either of them could have cleared it up field was with their respective weaker foot. In the end JP swung left-footed at it and it only got to the edge of their are where their no. 7, evaded our guys long enough to make a well-judged lob that dipped just under the cross bar out of Dorian's reach. It was a hard blow especially since we had looked the more likely to take the lead throughout the first half.
We started the second half with the same level of energy as the first and again we were coming close at their end, with their goalie doing well to save another one-on-one with Scott with an outstretched leg.
We were the ones who conceded the second goal of the game though. A cross from the left found its way to two of their players at the far post with only Kyle marking them as a certain dozy right back had switched off. It wasn't exactly a sublime finish as it just hit the guy on the chest but it had enough on it to drift over the line.
Mark and Gary came on for JP and Kevin respectively at the restart, with Alfie coming on for Scott a few minutes later with Kyle going up front and Alfie in his place on the flank. The subs worked as Gary hit a low drive from the left side that the keeper could only parry into the path of the onrushing Alfie There was a horrible moment when the ball looked to be spinning high and wide after it left his boot, but it did end up in the back of the open goal and it was game on again.
However, the worst was to come, when their no. 9 who looked to us to be miles offside from a clearance ran through and scored with an admittedly decent finish. We were convinced he was off - no idea who could have been playing him on - but there was no flag from Kev on the line and the ref went with with that.
We threw everything at them to get the equaliser - heck even I had three shots on goal which was three more than I'd managed all season. Dale had a point blank effort saved by their keeper, Gary put an overhead kick wide, Kyle just missed getting onto the end of a square ball from Gary through the six yard box. We had to scramble the ball away after Dorian had to make a save from one of their rare efforts on target.
End result though was the same scoreline as the last time we were in Bookham, even though we'd played so much better on this occasion. Simon had to be spoken to by the ref after some handbags with one of their players but it was a frustrating game for all of us as we came away with nothing to show for our hard work.
But as stated at the start of this report, we weren't the only ones at the top to have a bad day. Nothing's changed for the top three teams as we all managed to lose our games by the same margin albeit with differing scores. We're at the halfway point in a division that's probably the tightest we've played in, where anybody can beat anybody else (with apologies to Royal Oak Reserves...so far).
So yes, we're going to be a bit hacked off with games like this, but it's a game at the end of the day, and at least we're in the position where we've got a real challenge to play for and we should relish that and enjoy our football. We're a decent team at this level and the goals and wins will come because we've got the players and the teamwork to get them.
