SYDENHAMS LEAGUE (WESSEX) DIVISION ONE
SATURDAY 12TH APRIL 2008
VERWOOD TOWN 2 FAWLEY AFC 5

A win today would secure fourth spot in the first division. Fawley, sitting above middle of the table had only pride to play for and this became their spur.

A fast pace and accurate passing put a gloss on Fawley's opening spell. We looked tardy by comparison. None the less with 14 minutes gone Lynch broke up a Fawley attack and a wide ball to Homer gave room for Homer to move down the line. Leaving two defenders tackling shadows on went Homer to unleash a tremendous left foot shot that zipped into the bottom corner. 1-0.

Fawley worked hard to recover the deficit and a couple of minutes after the goal had Willis scrambling along his line to keep the ball out of the net.

We lost the ability to find rhythm and our passing was atrocious. We strolled and Fawley ran. We were under pressure and with 23 minutes gone Fawley worked the ball across the middle of the park, created an opening and a shot from just outside the box whipped past Willis to level the score. 1-1.

26 minutes and a player left completely free on the right, floated a cross and the ball was swept past Willis by an unmarked flank player. 1-2.

Fawley's movement off the ball was much better than ours and looked slick by comparison.

34 minutes saw a ball pumped high towards our goal. Out came Willis covering for an absent defence and tried a header to clear the ball. It skipped off his head goalwards and presented itself to a Fawley forward who gratefully tapped it into an empty net.

We grabbed a goal back in 43 minutes with a cracking Arnold header so half time came with a score line of 2-3.

We started the second half with a bit more bite and for the first five minutes had more possession than we had had during the whole of the first half. We seemed to realise what the game was about.

King spurred the forwards with some good through balls and Goodall for the first time in the game was enjoying reasonable runs at the visitors defence.

Dyer broke through with ten minutes gone but the shot went straight to the keeper.

It was evident that we wouldn't keep up the good work. Too many players today wanted to walk through the game and effort became minimal.

17 minutes and King was felled like a log in the centre of the park. Partisan supporters gasped as Adie Arnold raced on to the pitch. Could this be an immediate change…..Methuselah on for King? It wasn't to be. Adie was given artificial respiration as he made his way to the touch line. King meanwhile limped into action.

22 minutes and a glitch. We moved the ball between players accurately, resulting in a shot from Newbury that went wide.

Alzheimer took over again. We didn't know where we were or what we were doing.

76 minutes and Fawley waltzed through a bewildered defence to make it 2-4.

84 minutes and Fawley scored a cracking goal moving the ball quickly from the flank to the centre leaving a couple of player s free to try their luck.The ball whistled past a despairing dive from Willis making it 2-5.

We had no way back and thanked the ref for blowing the whistle at full time.

2-5!!!!!!!