The boys responded very well to Tuesdays heavy defeat with an excellent performance and result against a team who will be one of the top teams in the Division this season. Tim and I felt that we hadn't prepared the boys properly in the midweek defeat and this time spent a lot of time before the match talking and practising. The delayed kick off did not put the boys off and we started the game very strongly, taking advantage of playing with the wind in the first half.

We created a number of good chances in the first half , and attacked well down both wings . Their goalkeeper made an excellent save from Seans well-hit shot , somehow tipping it onto the crossbar , and from a deep freekick to the far post by James P Dan Abbott just missed out .

Defensively we were well-organised , with good talking by the back four , and the fullbacks in particular did a great job keeping their skilful wide men out of the game . When they were beaten Callum and Matt B covered behind really well .

 

The breakthrough came midway throught he first half as a goalkeeper clearance from one side of the goal landed at James Pages feet almost 40 yards out . He immediately controlled the ball and belted it back into the goal with the goalkeeper unable to get across in time .

 

In the second half we knew that we would face an onslaught as they had the wind in their favour , but the tackling was too good and Dan Ellis was limited to a few shots to save . We worked really hard in midfield closing them down and prevented them from having time on the ball . When we did get possession we took advantage of them pushing forward to catch them on the break , and the clinching goal came from one such break . Liam played an excellent pass to Sean , who took the ball on before finishing brilliantly.

 

After that we closed the game down by playing Andrew and Matt N just in front of the back four and the whistle finally blew on a superb 2-0 win .

Most of the boys were exhausted after the game , an illustration of the supreme effort they put in .

 

Match Performances 

 

Dan Ellis    did well throughout , handled well and off his line quickly . Good distribution when kicking from hand

 

Arran Moran  great game , had a very skilful and tricky opponent but never gave up and largely kept him quiet .

 

Matt Baker – usual brave performance , won some great headers and tackled furiously

 

Callum Hawkins – lead the back four really well , covered behind and headed and tackled well

 

Scott Crane – unlucky to start on the bench , very solid and cleared well with both feet

 

Joe Alemzadeh – dealt well with a tricky opponent , managed to get forward and worked well with Josh

 

Andrew Webb – tackled really well and distributed simply but effectively

 

Matt Newbery – did really well in the midfield area , broke up their play ,tackled well and managed to get forward

 

James Page  - passed the ball effectively , hit some good crosses and took his goal really well

 

Sean Fahey – another tireless performance , worked hard , unlucky with a stinging shot in the first half and deserved his goal

 

Josh Seymour – worked hard , developing a good understanding with Joe A , got some good runs and crosses in

 

James Winward – got himself into some good positions in the second half , worked hard without much luck

 

Liam Vincent – another good game , linked play up really well and set up the second clinching goal

 

Dan Abbott – worked really hard , showed some good touches and competed well physically with a very large opponent