After the disappointment of last week’s exit from the Tonbridge League’s Chairman’s Trophy, we were back in cup action again this week. Our opponents in the first round of the Tunbridge Wells Intermediate Cup were fellow division one side Hadlow Harrow.
The opening exchanges of the match followed a similar pattern to most of our games this season, with us starting well, looking confident on the ball, only to fall behind. We lost possession cheaply when attacking down our left, and a lack of concentration at the back allowed their centre forward the chance to finish. Garry Knight got a good hand to the shot, but unfortunately the ball rolled just inside the post. To the team’s credit we didn’t drop our heads and for the rest of the half played some really good football. A fine move saw a deep cross to the far post and Ross Taylor struck a fine left foot volley, which their keeper did well to keep out with his feet. Matt Rice-Tucker and Steve Waterman then both had goals disallowed in quick succession for offside. Luke Hattle was giving their left back are torrid time and Nick Forward and Ross were linking up well down our left.
At half-time stand-in manager Dean stressed that whilst we had played well in the first half, we had stopped hitting the front two’s feet for part of it, our talking to the man in possession needed to be better and we needed to have more shots on goal.
What followed was probably our best 45 minutes football of the season. The back four were very comfortable and didn’t give the opposition a sniff of a chance. When they were under pressure they always had the useful outlet of Garry, who was always happy to receive the ball back to his feet. We continued to use the ball out wide very well and the centre midfield pairing of Ben Turner and Matt were dominating their opposite numbers and constantly supporting the front two when we were attacking. That said our lack of goals this season was continuing to be an issue and it took a wonder strike to bring us level. An excellent thirty yard ball forward from Luke H was controlled beautifully on the chest by Mark Wyles, with his back to goal. As the ball dropped, he turned and drilled a half volley low and hard past their keeper.
Steve then had two good chances in five minutes to put us in front, forcing a good save from the keeper with the first and a simple save from the tame second effort. A fine header from Ben just failed to hit the target following a corner. More half chances followed as our midfield quartet continued to get in the opposition’s box on a regular basis. With twenty minutes to go Yacine Marouani was introduced for Steve and 15 minutes later Jamie Bush came on for a very tired Luke. Just as the game looked to be heading to extra-time, Yacine received a pass on the edge of the box and with a neat turn, bamboozled the defender, leaving him with just the keeper to beat. Could his finish match the class of the turn? The answer was no, as a scuffed shot saw the keeper dive where the ball was meant to go, and the ball rolling in to the opposite side of the goal. However this little bit of luck was more than we deserved on the day.
For once a very good performance was rewarded with a win. All 13 players involved today did very well. Defensively we only gave them one chance. Our midfield outplayed their’s and up front the link up play with the rest of the team was very good. The only black mark on the day was the 10 minute ear bashing I got from some old doris when ringing the result through to the wrong number, when all I wanted to do was get back for England game!
Team:
G.Knight
L.Drury
N.Forward
K.Waterman
N.Edwards
L.Hattle
M.Rice-Tucker
B.Turner
R.Taylor
S.Waterman
M.Wyles
Subs
Y.Marouani (for S.Waterman)
J.Bush (for L.Hattle)
D.Jacquin (DNP)