The UNITS shared 8 goals with SR this morning in a pulsating game with constant end to end action
The squad was stretched to the limits this morning, we had 13 with Craig Gittens back joining the squad after the injury he picked up pre season, Coco & Newts played despite man flu and Chinner came in for his first start after 6 weeks out so we started with
Mala Chinner Danny Brownie Eggy Baker Newton Coco Jay Pountney & Hunter
Subs were Craig & Ginge
The plan was to fight fire with fire we know SR are very good going forward yet so are we and I felt we could cause them problems so we picked an attacking formation
It took us only 3 minutes to take the lead infact, after a great UNITS start Jay cut inside and the Rangers defender on the floor stuck out a hand and the ref had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Pountney made no mistake to put us 1-0 up
We then had 2 great chances in before the 10 minute mark after some great play Pountney crossed for Hunter who volleyed goalward from 7 yards only for the Rangers keeper to make a reflex stop on the line then Pountney was put away and beat the keeper only for the ball to sail inches wide of the post
SR were a little shell shocked as they struggled to cope with the UNITS attacking play, Mala a spectator for the first 15 minutes and on 20 minutes we made it 2-0 with a superb goal
Coco floated a cross field ball to Hunter who was on the edge of the 18 yard box he killed the ball with one touch before volleying across the keeper into the top corner, superb finish and the UNITS were 2-0 to the good and deservedly so
5 minutes later however SR got back into the match with their first meaningful attack, a reverse ball was played into their skipper who got goal side of Chinner as he rounded Mala he was clipped and he made no mistake with the penalty to make it 2-1
SR now woke up and a couple of long throws into the box had to be dealt with and after one scramble Brownie hacked away but the UNITS deservedly made it 3-1 when after more good play Hunter shot goalwards and the keeper parried at full stretch but only as far as Pountney who volleyed home the loose ball from 10 yards
Rangers then made a change on 35 minutes and changed shape as they were 2nd best all over the park, the skipper now central got away from Eggy on 40 minutes but Mala raced out of his area to tackle him on the edge of the box
Right on HT the UNITS should have made it 4-1 when after more pinball in their box the ball came to Jay who struck it well from 12 yards with the keeper out of position only for the ball to be headed off the line by the full back
HT 3-1
Cracking half from the UNITS especially with a stretched squad and Cuzer asked the lads to keep the tempo and expect SR to come back at us hard
Disappointingly it was the man in the middle who had the next big impact when on 55 minutes and the UNITS looking solid another long ball over the top was aimed at their pacy striker who was a yard the wrong side of Brownie, up went the flag only for the Ref to go to give the offisde, then over rule it allowing the player to lob Mala from 20 yards. It was a shocking decision, the SR striker later admitting he was offisde to compound the misery but a terrible over rule and changed the momentum of the game as this gave SR a real lift
Sure enough 15 minutes later the game had turned on it's head and we found ourselves 4-3 down
Firstly their player did well to turn Danny in the box and hang a cross up which their skipper completed his hat trick with a header on the line then Danny was sloppy in possession giving the ball to their wide player who hit a 25 yarder which took a horrible bounce in front of Mala and he could only parry into the roof of the net
Despite this we still had plenty of chances, Hunter intercepted a poor back pass and was clean through only for the keeper to nip the ball off his feet at the crucial time. Hunter again, Newton and Coco all fired wide from decent positions and Poutney was inches away from another when put through and dragging a shot wide
The game now was a case of you attack, we attack with both defences stretched. Ginge replaced Coco with 15 left but it was Pountney who completed his hat trick after some last ditch defending in the SR box the ball fell to Lewis who fired right footed under the keeper from 15 yards
Craig Gittens then replaced Chinner with Baker moving to full back and both sides had chances to win the game however we had the better of them, Hunter inches away from a Ginge cross and Pountney firing wide from a decent position but it finished 4-4
All in all a decent point against a very good side but one we should have won with the amount of chances we created over the 90 minutes
Man of the match went to Brownie who filled in at CH due to the shortages and played well and through the pain barrier against a forward line that asks a lot of questions
Next up we take on Enville Athletic in league action
Cuzer
