SYDENHAMS LEAGUE (WESSEX) DIVISION ONE
SATURDAY 15TH NOVEMBER 2008
SHAFTESBURY 3 VERWOOD TOWN 1

Another scramble to make sure we had a squad for the game turned to a plus as Mark Beverley turned up at the sporting Club doing a wheelie on his three speed Zimmer.

We set off in convoy and turned up in a confident mood. The mood permeated to the pitch and with only a minute on the clock we forced a corner on the left. In came the intrepid Lynch and keeping with his usual style powered a header over the bar.

Shaftesbury defended well in the opening stages and another save from an Arnold header hit the underside of the bar and was booted clear. Homer picked up the missile and his 20 yard shot hit the side netting.

As usual we hated being on top in a game so gave way. Shaftesbury moved the ball well and Fawcett was forced into a great save with 24 minutes gone. Shaftesbury continued to move the ball well and their running off the ball was better than ours.

30 minutes and Shaftesbury's keeper pulled off the save of the game. Dyer broke free on the right. Threading the ball to Homer on the left and a low hard cross was met by Cousins. A tremendous volley was heading for the corner of the net when the keeper flung himself across the goal to palm the ball away from danger.

40 minutes and it was Fawcett's turn to show his qualities with a clean catch from a volley inside the box.

43 minutes and there wasn't anything he could do about a clever chip from the edge of the box that dropped over his head into the net. 0-1.

44 minutes and we pushed down the left. A cross and there was Elysee to plant a header firmly past the keeper. 1-1.

Tactics. Adie and Nigel flashed up a video at half time. It should have shown highlights of the first half but Nigel put the wrong one in the machine. No one wanted to leave!!

The decision was that we had to mark on a man to man basis. Names were printed in indelible ink on each player's brain. We were outwitted. A clever opposition substituted names!!!! We were confronted with Yeti…Peanut… and someone mentioned Sasquatch!!

Appetite was displayed more by Shaftesbury and we looked once again as if we were going down the pan. We were second to the ball and watching rather than challenging.

Shaftesbury swung the ball about and their quality on the ball was much better than ours. We gradually gave ground and camped out on the edge of the box. We had to rely on long clearances to spark counter attacks but had nothing to offer as a threat in front of goal.

29 minutes and constant pressure gave an opening for a shot from the edge of the box to fly into the top corner. 1-2.

Surprisingly we seemed to pick ourselves up ands for a few minutes it looked as if we could get back in the game. Nothing though in front of the sticks and the home team found added confidence in the knowledge that we could have been on the pitch on our own we still couldn't have put the ball in the net.

Moore headed clear from the goal line and Fawcett had to make a double save as Shaftesbury applied extra pressure.

Time drifted on and we reached 90 minutes.

91 minutes the ref looked at his time piece and before he finally blew an angled shot from just inside the area sped past Fawcett to close the scoring at 1-3.

Next week we have Aldermaston to contend with and need to get back to winning ways.