A long trip into the sticks of Litlehampton saw Teamstats progress into the next round of the cup in only what could be described as a battling performance in very difficult conditions.
The first half was very one way traffic with Teamstats probably having their worst 45 mins for a while, particularly with our passing for with few chances for the away team. What was positive however, was that despite the home teams dominance, every time that we did get forward we caused their back 4 problems, which was positive given that we had the wind in the second half. Loft was holding the ball up well with Jeeves giving them problems by getting in behind them, but with little support, it came to nothing. Despite General Henry dominating though, they carved out few real opportunities, apart from set pieces. However, their first half chance of the match came when their small centre forward managed to turn Rich on the edge of the box before placing the ball neatly into the far corner of Beano's goal.
As manager, I always felt that is we got back in at 1-0 that we would have a chance and once we managed this, the second half was a reverse of the first with Teamstats having all of the possession.
We got back into the game quickly, with Al breaking down the right, in similar vain to the game against Autopaints, before whipping in a great cross which found an unmarked Danny G in the box. The ball seemed to take an age to fall before Danny, in what seemed to be slow motion, dived and headed the ball into the net. Game On!
We continued to put them under pressure, but for their manager to keep flagging, despite players being at least a yard on or running from our own half. Considering the weather it was surprising to see the opposition playing such a high line and it was inevitable that we would get another chance. This came with another quick break which saw Jeeves get in to the box before pulling the ball back. One of their defenders stuck his arm out and it was a blatant penalty. The birthday boy himself stepped up in confident fashion and gave the keeper no chance with a good spot kick.
We continued to dominate and looked the more likely to score, before a cross got caught in the wind and beat Beano at his back stick. It was one of those that only happens in the English weather and could have knocked the wind out of the side and it looked like extra time. That was until we broke again, with John getting forward from CB. The ball broke to Pagey on the left, who looked like getting his 3rd in 3, but he unselfishly pulled the ball back across the goal for substitute Terry to get in and smash the ball in beyond the goalkeeper.
All in all, for sheer effort we just about deserved the win, but against better opposition we may not have been so lucky to get in at 1-0 down. In saying that 3 wins in 3 shows that even though we are not firing on all cylinders we are still getting results. The sign of a good team!
Cheers, G. Affa.
