SYDENHAMS LEAGUE (WESSEX) DIVISION ONE
SATURDAY 7TH MARCH 2009
VERWOOD TOWN 0 BLACKFIELD AND LANGLEY 5

Second in the table and looking certain for promotion this season, B&L pushed forward right from the whistle. Giles had to be totally alert for a change to stem a tide of attacks. Lynch however was taking a bit longer than usual to settle and a couple of early balls pumped into the middle were won by B&L forwards. Willis' handling was superb and generated confidence into the defence.

10 minutes and a cross beat Willis but not the bar. We were under the cosh and seemingly unable to fight back.

4 minutes later B&L got through on the left and a low shot destined for the bottom corner was saved by a Willis full stretch dive.

We gave a way a free kick 25 yards out. In swept a high ball. Up went the centre forward 0-1. We had no answer to their aerial dominance.

A temporary reprieve stemmed from a Dyer Murray link up resulting in a cross that Lynch headed over the bar.

20 minutes…..a free kick unchallenged in the box and hooked in. 0-2.

24 minutes later we tried attacking. The ball was cleared into our half. B&L's outside left had a clear run to the edge of the area. A low cross and a stooping header put B&L three up.

We looked shoddy in approach and in recent weeks where we had produced some excellent football was forgotten. We had nothing to offer.

37 minutes gone and we politely allowed the opposition a clean run through but fortunately saw the ball fired wide from 6 yards.

We went in at half time with a score line of 0-3.

Verwood supporters were pleasantly surprised by a brighter performance at the start of the second half. Instead of seeing the ball pumped into our oppositions half and then see it fly back faster than it went in, we pushed our visitors back into their box.

B&L's defensive cover was excellent. It was breached a couple of times but the keeper wasn't troubled at all.

57 minutes a Giles back pass fell short and in came the centre forward to glide the ball past Willis. 0-4.

B&L eased a bit and we got into the game for a while. Murray made ground on the left and a deep cross should have produced a goal but a Reeves effort hit the side netting.

A couple of minutes later Newbury tried a volley but the defensive cover blocked the shot from reaching the keeper. The rebound fell to Dyer and a better shot went just over the bar. Could we get back into the game? The answer in short… no.

We gave ground as B&L gathered pace. Willis was again in action and produced several good saves. Lynch had got the better of aerial combatants so the high balls tailed off but B&L switched play to the flanks to test our full backs. We held tight.

10 minutes to go and we cracked again. A left flank raid into the box went unchallenged and although Willis made a tremendous effort to block the runner he was rounded and the ball was slipped into the bottom corner. 0-5.

We then faced five minutes when B&L could have had three more had it not been for a finger tip save, a flying dive to palm away a volley and a winning one on one save from a very much in form Willis.

Thankfully the whistle went without any more goals against.

Final result 0-5.