The UNITS miserable start to 2013 continued as they were humbled by Enville Athletic
Coco passed an early morning fitness test and Newt's returned to the side but Pountney missed out due to injury, also with Hunter unavailable Cuzer set the team up as
Mala, 2ton, Gilo, Eggy, Taylor, Baker, Newton, Ashton, Coco, Acer & Ginge
Subs were Kieron, Chinner, Ross and the returning Darbs for his first involvement of the season
The UNITS started well and could have easily been two up in the opening 10 minutes. With only 3 minutes on the clock Ginge rolled the centre half in the box and poked the ball goalwards with the Enville keeper somehow managing to save the ball on the goal line. Acer was presented with an even better chance just after when Coco switched the play, Acer found himself in the clear but shot straight at the keeper from 12 yards
Enville as we expected we're working hard and making life difficult for us but we were well on top with maybe individuals guilty of trying to do too much rather than keeping the play simple and letting chances come the easy way
Acer returned the compliment on 20 minutes whipping in a lovely ball and Coco ran onto it in the box but side footed well over from 10 yards
Ashton really should have put the UNITS in front when Ginge did well and released Ashton in the box, on his left foot and from 12 yards he went for power over placement and the Enville keeper made yet another good reflex save pushing the ball wide for a corner
On 25 minutes we were done by the ultimate sucker punch when Enville got in down our right, crossed into the box, Eggy cleared but only as far as their striker some 18 yards out and he drilled the ball across Mala and into the far corner
Next to miss a gilt edge chance was Coco when he was played in down the left, steadied himself only to shoot straight at the keeper from a tight angle some 8 yards out
We finally got level on 40 minutes when from a corner Taylor headed back across goal and Ginge looped a header over the keeper from a tight angle
With the last kick of the half we once again shot ourselves in the foot and handed the lead back to Enville. The ref gave a very poor decision against Eggy some 35 yards out but out defending from the resulting free kick was again woeful, this time 2-ton losing his man and he headed past Mala from no more than 7 yards
HT UNITS 1 v 2 Enville
It's fair to say Cuzer was livid with the soft nature of the goals conceded..again! However he reminded the lads we had created plenty of chances and had to make them count in the next 45
We were quickly on the front foot into the 2nd half but Enville had something to hold on to now and were defending for their lives and happy to play on the break with both their centre halves happy to sit on their 18 yard box and the onus was on the UNITS to break them down
Ginge, Coco and Ashton all had shots blocked but we were struggling to create clear openings and Cuzer made 2 quick changes on the hour mark Kieron replacing 2-ton and Ross replacing Coco who was far from 100% fit
Despite all their pressure the UNITS were indebted to Mala making a smart low save from a rare Enville counter attack and Danny Giles did well to make a last ditch challenge as their striker chased a ball over the top
Ross was presented with a chance on 70 minutes and rifled over from 12 yards with Acer guilty of a very similar miss shortly after, again the ball going sailing over
Paul Taylor must have put 20 throws into the Enville box already in the 2nd half but nothing was dropping to any UNITS who had loaded the box, Acer had the best chance again yet sliced a half cleared chance a yard or so wide
Darbs came on for the last 15 minutes replacing Eggy for his first action of the season after his knee op
On 85 minutes the UNITS broke quickly from an Enville free kick and Acer found himself away down the left, he cut inside and as he got his shot off which the keeper saved he was clattered and referee pointed to the spot
Ashton stepped up but could only fire against the post, summing up our luck or lack of in front of goal all day
Enville had wasted a lot of time in the 2nd half and the referee was hopelessly guilty of talking to everybody on the pitch however he did add 5 minutes injury time and the UNITS again found themselves camped around the Enville goal, Tayl's had the best chance when now thrown up top he wriggled free of a couple of challenges in the box but could only fire over under pressure from a tight angle. We continued to huff and puff but we couldn't force the equaliser and in the end we went down 1-2 to end a miserable run of three home games
Ultimately a very disappointing result, yes we probably had enough chances to win arguably two games but we didn't play as we can and with a bit more quality and composure we would have won the game comfortably
Man of the match was a difficult one as nobody played to the required levels but Danny Giles had some good moments defensively and showed more tempo & desire than some of the others
