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Pembury Sunday 3 v 0 Gardeners Arms
With all the bad weather we had earlier in the season we have been fortunate only to need one mid-week game and our opponents were recently crowned league champions Gardeners Arms. This was their last game of the season and bar one draw they had won every league game. Mid-week fixtures always throw up strange results and we all knew they were well up for this game needing to avoid defeat to finish the season unbeaten but we also needed the points to give us the best chance of avoiding finishing in the bottom two.
The game was a bit scrappy to begin with as both teams struggled to get the ball down and control the game but we did get a lot of success down our right as Rob Hendley seemed to find acres of space. From one of his runs we got a corner that Ollie swung into the 6 yard box, JR dummied the ball which left Rob Rhee to arrive and head the ball home to shock the visitors. Deputising in goal was Jason Gayle and what a game he had.
A couple of fantastic saves during the first half and he controlled his area well. They tried to play 3 up front but our back four of Woody, Lindo, Rhee and Hunter stood firm and played well all game as a unit. We had chances all through the first half and they tried to hit us on the break but it ended 1-0 at half time.
The second half saw Gardeners start strongly, applying a lot of pressure on our goal with several corners in a row but the defence managed to keep them out. 5 minutes into the second half a hopeful ball into the corner saw their defender’s clearance intercepted just inside their half with the ball cushioned to JR who slide the ball into Hendley on the right side of the area, his crossed pick out Adam who smashed the ball into top corner with his left! This gave us a bit of breathing room but Gardeners piled on the pressure.
We played on the break as they threw more players forward in an attempt to get back in the game and preserve their unbeaten run but it wasn’t happening for them especially when Gayley pulled off one of the saves of the season from a free-kick that the wall deflected which had sent him the wrong way. With 10 minutes to go Steve Lindsey came on to sure things up and then we put the final nail in the coffin when a flick from a goal kick saw Mearing rush on to it, take the ball round the keeper to slot home from the angle.
A fantastic result for us with the three points vital in keeping us up as we found out later when the news that Simla had beaten Paddock Wood United 4-1 so we were level on points with the latter but with a healthy goal difference. Unless we lose both games in our double header with Artois the record books show that we’re safe! Let’s enjoy our last game and have a drink at the pub afterwards to celebrate the end to a long season!
Team:
J.Gayle
M.Wood
S.Hunter
R.Rhee
A.Lindsey
A.Dowson
O.Allman (c)
M.Lester
R.Hendley
J.Ronaldson
C.Mearing
Subs
S.Lindsey for M.Lester
