The boys had a potentially difficult return match against league leaders Henbury , but rose to the challenge magnificently, dominating the second half before succumbing to an undeserved 1-0 defeat . Henbury had not been challenged or competed with like this so far this season, and nor will they I suspect, in the rest of it .

We started the match as perhaps we should have started the last one, reverting to our favoured 3-5-2 formation, with Josh returning from illness and Dan Abbotts absence covered by playing Liam and James Winward up front . We tackled and passed really well in a quite even first half with Andy Webb and Matt Newbery outstanding and created a number of good opportunities. The mud in the penalty areas made some of the chances more difficult than they could have been and we were unlucky not to score.

At the other end we were challenging really well but were indebted to Dan Ellis for several outstanding saves . He saved several one on ones and also dived to push a goal-bound shot away . A minute before halftime we let a soft goal in , a corner being allowed to bounce across our six yard box  before being scrambled home .

The halftime whistle came with a one goal deficit but we spoke about how well we had done and that we needed to just keep going . We did not feel the need to make any changes at halftime.

In the second half we completely dominated , with Henbury relying almost completely on breakaways . We had the bulk of possession and when we lost possession immediately got it back through some fierce tackling from the midfield and defence . We were just short of the pace needed to turn breaks into full chances , and with Dan Abbott missing lacked a physical presence up front , but we kept battling away and had most of the shots in the second half . As the pressure grew I felt sure that we would score , and that if we did we would go on to win the match , but unfortunately we were not able to turn our pressure into goals.

I was pleased today with our determination , the way that we tackled and the way that we kept going right until the end . The boys were desperately unlucky not to get something from the game and if we play like this for the last 11 matches we will win the bulk of them .

Match Performances

Dan Ellis – outstanding first half , with several outstanding saves . Quick off his line and brilliant in ‘ one on ones ‘ , he had a quieter second half as we dominated .

Joe Alemzadeh – returning to top form , did well throughout until rested towards the end .

Matt Baker – epitomised the battling attitude throughout the team . Won all of his tackles and headers and one crunching challenge in the first half inspired whole team

Callum Hawkins – cool and calm on the ball , challenged well and not really troubled throughout , distributed well

Arran Moran – didn’t get as long on the pitch as his current form deserved , did well when he came on .

Scott Crane – another who deserved more playing time – did well when he came on . Good talking and struck the ball well .

Andy Webb – absolutely outstanding – best performance of the season . Never stopped harrying , tackling and passing . Next step is some shots from the edge of the box

Matt Newbery – another all action display of running tackling and heading . Did well alongside Andy to win the midfield battle

James Page – played some lovely passes both short and long . Dead ball delivery was good . Improved fitness showed as he also worked hard in challenging and heading .   

Sean Fahey – did well until tiring . Made some mazy runs and showed good determination . Got some good crosses in .

Josh Seymour – on another day would have had a couple of goals . Ran well down the left and got some good balls over .

Sam Vankuylenberg – ran and tackled well . Made some good bursts through from midfield and was unlucky on several occasions .

Joe Thwaites – pushed up front to add some pace and did well , never gave up and chased back effectively

Liam Vincent – really good game from Liam , tackled and harried non-stop and was on the end of most of our chances . Good close control and touch , probably missed Dan to share the load