Pembury 4 - 0 Woodlands
We were at home again this week, entertaining a Woodlands team that beat us twice last season. During the warm up it became evident that they had become a younger team than in previous years and, like Invicta Reserves the week before, would be a different proposition than last season. We changed formation to 4-4-2, with Stefano coming back into the first team fold and Wyles unluckily making way on to the bench. Sam Dowson replaced Chris Ells and Dave Hymers returned between the posts.
The first half was a very open affair, with both sides playing some good football. We were looking a little nervy in our defensive game which led to some decent Woodlands pressure which thanks to some good saves from Dave and a missed attempt from 6 yards we managed to keep the ball out of our net. We needed to find feet a bit more, be a bit more thoughtful with our passes and retain the ball in order for us to be able to break as a team and keep the ball in their half of the field and relieve some pressure. We had a golden opportunity to relieve the pressure on around 25 minutes Ollie Funnel performed a great turn to lead to the defender tripping him and the referee awarding the penalty. Liam stepped up, the keeper guessed the right way and what was a poor penalty was saved and pushed away for a corner. We were playing better now and although they were still looking dangerous, our chances at their end were increasing. On 35 minutes Charlie had a corner and managed to pick out Liam who was unmarked 12 yards out to volley home and make up for the penalty miss to give us a 1-0 lead. We had some confidence now and Woody and Luke were controlling the midfield nicely, supplying Charlie and Sam when they could. It was a combination of Woody and Luke that led to Luke creating space on the right, producing a great cross for Ollie, who had peeled of his marker to head back across goal and make it 2-0. A great team goal. It was 2-0 at the break and we knew that if we played like we did in the last 10 minutes we could secure the 3 points.
We started the second half as we left off and looked very dangerous in attack, with Sam Dowson having a thoroughly impressive game down the left and giving the right back a torrid time. We had settled a bit in defence but still, on occasion, offered a half chance to the opposition that Dave dealt with. It was a move down the left that bought our next goal, with Sam Dowson combing with the returning Palermo who beat 1, beat 2, beat 3 men to then produce a low left foot cross that Liam poked home at the near post to make it 3-0, a great run to mark his return to first team action.
We made some changes with new signing Caner Vali coming on for the ever impressive Mallows, Mark Wyles coming on for Ollie who marked a good performance with a goal and Tommy Gent coming on for Nick Edwards who had picked up a knock. With the view of attack being the best form of defence we continued to apply the pressure and a move down the right which involved substitutes Vali and Gent Jnr led to the ball being fed in the box to Liam who dispatched to make it 4-0. We continued to attack and Wyles picked up where Ollie left off and looked good up front which some nice touches and half chances. Dowson continued to threaten down the left as he hit the post and Luke and Woody controlled the middle but the game was to finish 4-0.
A great result against an improved team but it could have been different. In the first 35 minutes we allowed them to apply a lot of pressure on us by not using the ball well enough and on another day may have found ourselves a goal or two down. That said we produced opportunities too. It was a good advert for football with the game played in the right way by both sets of players. It was a great squad performance, with all 14 players playing their part on and off the field and it is important that this continues if we want to achieve decent results in the coming weeks. Small things to improve on but a great performance and even better result. Well done.
Team:
D.Hymers
N.Edwards
C.Duncan
C.Fletcher
S.Palermo
C.Mallows
M.Wood
L.Turner
S.Dowson
L.Gent
O.Funnell
Subs:
C.Vali
T.Gent
M.Wyles
