SYDENHAMS LEAGUE (WESSEX) DIVISION ONE
SATURDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 2009
RINGWOOD TOWN 1 VERWOOD TOWN 1

Although it was Valentines day there was no love lost between two local rivals. A defeat suffered way back in August still lingered in the minds of seven of today's team who turned out that fateful night and watched two goals whip up the Verwood net.

Ringwood stormed forward in an attempt to notch an early goal but Lynch and Giles combined to block the first shot and then Fawcett was on hand to take a good catch from an edge of area effort.

3 minutes and Reeves placed a close header in the keeper's midrift. A long clearance had Elysee scampering to cover a counter attack and for a few minutes the crowd was treated to a lot of mistimed passes and a bit of aerial combat.

Fawcett pulled off a classic save with ten minutes gone, springing to his left making a fine catch.

Three minutes later Elysee sprinted forward and released Dyer. Dyer switched the ball to Goodall. A low cross was turned for a corner. The keeper made sure there was no danger in the box with a high catch.

Homer was buzzing. A great run and cross gave Reeves a chance but the header was well taken by the keeper.

Ringwood looked the sharper of the two sides at this stage perhaps because they had squeezed a couple of games in recently whilst we were languishing in the Sporting Club.

We then witnessed a game being played in the central area of the park with neither keeper having a lot to do.

The whistle blew on a half time 0-0.

The temperature had dropped a lot but the teams hadn't noticed. Two went into the referee's archive with ten minutes gone and then there were several niggly fouls slowing down the game.

Ringwood were getting closer to breaking the deadlock with some good approach work but defensively we stuck to our task and denied a clear shot to the Ringwood forwards.

Faulkner then planted a header from a corner onto the bar and Arnold followed minutes later with a fine run from defence only to be floored outside the area. Faulkner's free kick floated over the bar.

61 minutes and a penalty was given to our opponents as a forward went into a swallow dive after a strong tackle. The ball went to Fawcett's left but unfortunately finished up in the bottom corner of the net. 0-1.

15 minutes later another penalty was given to a dying swan. Up stepped Ringwood's spot specialist (not acne) and Fawcett picked the right way to go making a tremendous save.

The ball was cleared down the right and Elysee followed up crossing into the box for Goodall to blast a shot into the centre half.

Away went the ball and Ringwood hit back with four forwards pitching in against two Verwood defenders. Faulkner and Arnold were still looking for their sat navs as Ringwood threatened our box. Homer had covered an amazing amount of ground to join the defence. A look of shocked surprise crossed his face as a brutal volley hit him between the legs. Sinking ever so slowly to his knees a second look of surprise flashed across his face as he found he had suddenly become the owner of three Adam's Apples. There was no time to allow him to recover. We forced the game back on Ringwood.

83 minutes and Homer, sporting a sling round his neck to support the extra weight, tried a volley but the ball whistled past the post.

We threw every we had at the closing minutes of the game and with 91 minutes on the clock Chivers dived on to the ball to force it over the line from a corner. 30 seconds later the result was advertised …1-1.