Report:
The last league game, against 4th placed Sutton Valence was always
going to be a good test. They were clearly hoping to steal our 3rd place
and fielded a very strong team - with three substitutes on the side. We
had a good side out ourselves with the return of Mayes and Curtis giving
us bite down the left hand side.We started very strongly with good
attacking movement down both sides. We scored an early goal - a rebound
knocked in from a Dan Bishop short-corner strike. But as the half
progressed their vigour in midfield began to eat away at our confidence.
They snatched any loose ball and were effective at mobbing Richard
Carver. They pounced on a free hit and scored a very incisive goal. They
also hit the post from a powerfully drag-flicked short corner - which
whistled past my right ear.
Half time was a time to re-group. None of us said it, but we knew
that a draw would be good enough to secure our 3rd place, but playing
for draws is no what we do. Toby had the wise words - calling for more
composure, since we had been rushing our passes.
In the second half we steadied the ship and almost scored another
early goal from a great Al Houston break-away and cross to Steve
Lipscombe. It was enough to build our confidence and to make them
cautious about pushing too far forward. Having said that, they had most
of the attack and brought out some excellent defending from The Beccs.
Dan Bishop was very assured, and has got better and better this season.
His powerful hits were hugely useful in taking the pressure off us.
As the clock ticked down I picked up the ball on our 25, and as there
was no obvious pass on started running out of defence with it. I kept
looking for someone to pass to but as I ran forward Steve and Toby were
running away from me, taking their markers with them. This left me no
option but to keep running into the space created - all the way up to
their 25. It bloody nearly killed me.
So there ends a most satisfying season in a very competitive league.
Won 13, drawn 4, and lost only 5. We had the lowest goals against in the
league at 31.
As an interesting footnote, this week two of the teams we lost to
away, Gravesham and Sevenoaks, beat the two teams above us, Herne Bay
and Kings. |