A Point Apiece

By Deadman20/9/2015 08:38Sun Sep 20 08:38:31 2015

Views: 3563

Ultimately a disappointing result yesterday but probably a fair result overall.

First things first....discipline-wise, things were fine although Dave was pretty lucky not to get a second yellow for a foul in the second half. The ref called Leo over and warned him that the next foul would be Dave's last.

Up front Leon caused quite a few problems with his powerful running but the 4-3-3 system often left him a little bit short on support. Their keeper made one excellent block when Leon was clean through early on.

Early in the 2nd half we got our penalty for a foul on Leon (?) and he wriggled his way along the by-line. It did look a little on the soft side although the ref was very close to the incident.

Then we had the mad minute when the wheels came off. Their first goal was a touch fortunate as a free-kick took a massive dog-leg off our wall and fell to one of theirs close in. Gary wasn't happy about our slow reaction to the deflection and that shows the high standards he expects. We're not playing at the level yet when reactions like that are second nature (as they were last season).

The second goal came from a break from our own corner. Melvin was left very exposed by their quick break and we looked a bit of a mess at that point.

But we got our heads down and soon Aaron burst into the box, side-stepped a defender and rolled the ball past the keeper for a cool finish. He's enjoying a hot streak in front of goal at the moment and has nearly as many goals as the whole of last season but we now lose him for four games suspended.

On the negative side, Andre Da Costa had to go off with an injury in the first half.

On the positive side; I thought Sam Flegg had another excellent game as a marauding right-back.

So at least we battled back and got ourselves a point. I think we're all realistic and understand that it will take quite a few more games to integrate the old and new players into a reliable style. In the meantime, results are bound to be a bit up and down. Now we wait to see if Leatherhead win their cup replay on Weds. If they do, we won't have a league game next Saturday.