BOURNEMOUTH PREMIER DIVISION
SATURDAY 31ST JANUARY 2009
PENNINGTON ST MARKS 4 VERWOOD TOWN 1

Team

1. Chris Willis
2. John Homer
3. Will Cobley
4. Pete Eyre
5. Graham Cole
6. Martin Newbury
7. Matt McGilchrist
8. Ben Britnall
9. Tristan Dorey
10. Carl Smalley
11. Karl Foster
12. Sean Morrison (for Graham Cole 65 mins)

Report

If we could have a full squad and a match only lasted 80 minutes we would have come away with a draw! Three goals conceded in the last 10 minutes when we were down to ten men as we didn't have more than one substitute!

We came up against a decent side on a boggy pitch, however tried successfully to play good football with the ball being passed around and for the majority of the time on the floor.

On the morning of the match we had 2 cry offs, one working and one injured, leaving me with a depleted squad and struggling in certain positions. With Colin Randall out injured we were fortunate to be able to call upon the services of Chris Willis who had an excellent game and was unlucky to concede 4 goals. Pennington had the better of the 1st half, although we appeared to grasp the conditions better and young Carl Smalley on the left hand side of midfield was causing them all sorts of problems. Eventually their right back and midfielder realised the danger and resorted to kicking him all over the park. In addition, Tristan Dorey playing up front was leading the line brilliantly. The back five were solid and the midfield was being marshalled superbly by Martin Newbury who seemed to revel with the fact he had two 17 year olds and a 19 year old alongside him.

We were holding our own but conceded a goal ten minutes before half time when we failed to cut out a cross allowing their player to shoot from 10 yards into the corner. The second half saw us up the tempo and we took control of the game for 20 minutes and fully deserved our equaliser, which was a thirty yard top corner shot from Ben Britnall.

The next 10 minutes were nip and tuck; however an injury to Graham Cole meant we had to make our only possible change. Reshuffling the defence, young Matt went to right back, Will Cobley came in the middle and John Homer fitted in at left back. However, we still held firm and although under pressure Chris was keeping them at bay and we made a couple of chances ourselves. Then from a corner, Will stretched to clear the ball and pulled his hamstring. He couldn't continue, so we were down to 10 men having lost our two central defenders. It came as no surprise then when we were caught out and conceded a second goal. With less than 10 minutes left our tired warriors went in search of a well deserved equaliser, whereas their team could smell victory. The game appeared to have no midfield with both teams playing five up front! Unfortunately we went onto concede two more goals.

My opinion is that Pennington, who are riding high in the league, would have considered themselves fortunate to get such a margin of victory. I could not fault our effort and commitment and feel that we were unlucky not to come away with a point.


Report submitted by Neville Munson