The Units took on 2nd placed Areley Kings this morning, with Marcus and Ross late drop outs due to injury and work commitments we lined up as follows
Mala, Barney, Darbs, Kirbs, Lacey, Coco, Jonah, Jim, Baker, Taylor (c) and Pountney - Subs were Penna, Eggy and Powell
It was good to see ex UNIT Acer again who now plies his trade up top for Areley yet he had little chance to shine in a dissapointing first half where both sides pretty much cancelled each other out.
The pitch was hard and neither side had much success in getting the ball down, the first chance came from an Areley long throw where we switched off and their number 9 headed over from 8 yards when he should have done better
As a team we all just looked at 75%, both wide players were cutting inside into trouble too much and the ball wasn't sticking up top meaning Tayl's and Pountney were not given chance to shine and it was a case of putting a shift in to compete
Around the half hour mark we started to play slightly better, Coco and Taylor forced saves from distance from the Arley keeper and from a Taylor throw Darbs had a flick on cleared off the line as we started to look a little bit more like it however we came in 0-0 in a half of few chances
Half Time Areley 0 v 0 TS UNITS
Cuzer was far from happy due to the lethargic performance in the 1st half, we hadn't played for two weeks and it was showing yet we could and should have played a lot better than we were
The same 11 were sent out with ringing ears to up the tempo especially and ask more questions of Areley and for the first 5 minutes of the half we were better, working harder and being in the ascendency yet, as is the way from their first forray into our half Areley took the lead. Jim gave away a throw in a dangerous area and from the long throw Kirbs missed the initial header and their forward rolled Darbs to shoot past Mala from 12 yards
It was a shock to the system going behind and especially as were not playing well it was up to the UNITS to roll their sleeves up and show what they were made of
The 2nd half quickly became one way traffic as without being anywhere near our most fluent we started to take the game to an Areley side who were getting deeper and deeper as we pushed them back
Our set pieces were causing Areley problems and from a Taylor throw Darbs helped it on and Pountney had shot cleared off the line and shortly after Jonah had a shot blocked at the back stick by the last defender
We continued with the pressure with Mala now a spectator in the UNITS goal and on 70 minutes Jim got us level with a fine strike form 12 yards as another long throw was helped back by Pountney and Jim gave the keeper no chance with a firm shot
Shortly after the Areley keeper made a great one on one save as Pountney raced clear of the centre halves and went to dink the ball over the on-rushing keeper who did well to parry the ball away
With 10 left Cuzer threw on Matt Powell for the off colour Lacey and went 3-4-3 in pursuit of the winner and within minutes Powell had forced the Areley keeper into another wordy save when from a Darbs flick Powell back headered from 7 yards and the keeper managed to palm onto the bar and down onto the line before the ball was hacked away. Pountney then picked up a knock but stayed on to fizz a shot inches wide from 10 yards as the UNITS pushed hard for the winner
With 5 to go the comeback was complete when Coco flighted a free kick into the Areley box and Taylor was brave to beat the keeper to the ball and head the ball into the net despite the best efforts of the defender on the line
Penna replaced Pountney right after the goal as we reverted back to four at the back to comfortably see out the remaining 5 minutes and record a hard fought and slighly off colour victory
Man of the match was Mala - not as if he had much to do but he was the only one who didn't play below the standards we've set ourselves this season
