In this game against Tonbridge Invicta Reserves we had no excuses not to get a result as the team we had out and the players on the bench were all very capable of winning the game and man for man we are just as good as they are, however this doesn't really matter when it comes to amateur football and we were beaten 3 goals to nil despite playing pretty well.
1st half we started quite cautiously and this showed as we started to make silly little mistakes all over the pitch, but we were trying to play football the way its suppost to be played so as a team we felt it was only a matter of time before it came off. It didn't though and Invicta who always looked dangerous scored a goal as there striker beat the offside trap and put it past Gary Knight in goal, there was a question mark over him being offside but I cant comment as I was kicking my heels upfront. We finished the half quite well with having a fair amount of the possession but without really creating a meaningful chance, other than my shot from a tight angle that the keeper fumbled after a good flick on from Mark Wyles.
At half time the main thing that was stressed was the importance of Zonal Marking which somehow ended up it Andy Whittaker having one of his trademark Tantrums and kicking a ball at random which went on to pelt Tommy Gent in the body, it was all highly amusing but quite unproductive. That being said though we did come out and have a really good second half.
In the second half we started well and the pressure never stopped all half despite the fact they managed to score 2 goals in it (I will never work that out). Despite our pressure and possession though we still didn't really create a clear cut chance and our best efforts were a long shot from Nick Edwards which produced a fine save from their goalie and a half volley from the edge of the area that went over from Steve Waterman after some fine work from the midfield most notable Tommy Gent (must be Whittakers motivational skills coming into play), this would have only made it 2-1 though as in between these chances their striker managed to predict our defensive play and intercept a back pass and score (I think that's how it happened anyway). Then on another counter attack by them the ball came to Gary who was under pressure and couldn't manage one of his awesome kicks and the ball fell to an old pembury player Mark Faulkner (who did very little all game) by the touchline about 35-40 yards out and he volleyed in the back of the net. All I can say about that is "Bollocks".
Positives from the game were that Yas and Nick Forward looked very good when they came on and that as a team we look like we have quite a good mixture of youth and experience, also we must remember that invicta are not a bad outfit and despite the score line we were just as good as they were on the day.
My Report is quite hazy and may not be 100% accurate due to the fact that I am still struggling to come to terms with the result. We looked confident on the ball, had alot of possession, and after the game when you looked round at our players you could not say that anyone had a bad game so it is quite gutting that we still are yet to get a point in the league. If we play like we did in this game though we will beat most teams this season.
Lewis Drury
Team:
G.Knight
G.Hughes
D.Jacquin
N.Edwards
K.Waterman
L.Hattle
Tom Gent
B.Turner
J.Bush
M.Wyles
Lewis Drury
Subs
Yacine Marouani
S.Waterman
N.Forward