On FA Cup 3rd round weekend, we were involved in a rollercoaster ride of a cup tie ourselves, but unfortunately was on the wrong end of the result.
We discussed before the game that if we needed to turn this into a proper cup tie and get about them right from the off, what was to follow was a surprise to all.
We started quickly on a pitch that was heavy, and only going to get worse, but despite this we went 1-0 up within 5 mins when Liam finished following a great cross from Chris Ells. It was 2-0 moments later when Chris himself bundled home a Ben Turner corner. 15mins gone and it was 3-0 as Marc Wood drove the ball home from the edge of the box, for his first of the season. At this point the Pembury contingent on the touch line were thinking that maybe the Christmas festivities werenÕt quite over. Wrong ! . Oakwood went up the other end and scored before we had time to settle down. By the time we had reached 35 mins played it was 3-3 as Oakwood capitalised on some average defending. Ok, lets get to half time and sort a few things out I thought. Liam had different ideas as he latched onto a through ball, rounded the keeper and played it coolly off one of their defenders and into the net. 4-3 Half time.
Despite our numerical advantage the guys were not that buoyant as they had let a good lead slip. We discussed what we wanted to do, but the second half was to belong to Oakwood, as they stayed cool, and continued to play a neat passing game, which meant they retained the ball very well, a lesson we could learn from, as all to often we gave it away very cheaply, trying to do the difficult thing. They won the half 3-0, so the result ended 6-4.
Despite the loss, once again we have to take more positives than negatives away from the game, in the fact, that we put 4 past higher league opposition, the spirit and work ethic was great, and I am convinced if we continue to show the same desire, but just add a little bit of maturity, to some parts of our play, 2006 can be a more successful year than 2005.
Squad:
A Evans
A James
A Lindsey
B Turner
P Washer
S Lindsey
M Wood
J Passey
L Gent
C Ells
D Hymers
R Cornish
S Waterman.