Pembury 2 v 1 Hadlow Harrow
We were on Presidents Cup duty this week and hoping to progress to the next round of a cup where last year we reached the Semi-Finals. We had a strong squad of 15 players which, whilst giving the managers the right type of problem, unfortunately meant that one of the squad wouldn’t get any playing time. We had a strong line up and we were against a side whom we had beaten twice last year and had lost 11-1 the week previous so we were approaching the game with a positive but by no means complacent mindset, given our games had been close with them in the past.
We got off to the best possible start, as we applied pressure to their back line a sloppy back pass allowed Ollie to latch on to it, round the keeper and put us 1-0 to the good after about 30 seconds. This is exactly what we wanted, as we thought Hadlow would then start to panic about a repeat of the previous week, however to their credit they regrouped and settled. They were playing a fairly direct style of play which involved a very long ball from their centre half who could launch it a long way, the defence were performing with discipline and not looking overly worried. Then came the best football of the half, and probably would have been our goal of the season. The move involved every single one of our players, must have been around 25 passes before Luke picked out Liam who’d run off the full back, he bought the ball down well but then only preceded to shank the ball of his shin wide, much to the disappointment of everyone. We continued to apply pressure but couldn’t extend the lead and went in at 1-0.
At half time we stressed the need to switch on at the back, as despite their play being relatively predictable if we switched off for a second it would be costly, we also wanted a fast start and to kill the game off within 15 minutes. We started brightly but again were unable to find the illusive second goal. Then came what we were worried about, we had kept Hadlow in the game by not finishing well enough and then a ball swung deep to the back post was met by their wide midfielder that Liam had failed to track and it was 1-1. To be fair to the team they didn’t let this set back get to them and continued to press for the winner, we knew that we didn’t want to get dragged into the long ball game as we looked so much more dangerous on the floor against a tiring midfield and Luke and Caner’s energy would give us the advantage. The game looked like it could be heading for a draw when Luke knocked a free kick into the box, the ball alluded everyone and Liam stole in and thankfully couldn’t miss from 5 yards out. We then saw the game out but not without a final long ball scare and Jake &ldsquo;Fernando Torres&rdsquo; Miller rounding their keeper only to stumble and hit the ball wide!!
All in all, a good result but one that would have been a lot more comfortable if we had been more clinical. The defence stayed focused all game and deserve a lot of credit having to deal with an onslaught of probing long balls. The midfield controlled the game when we kept the ball on the deck and Ollie and Wyles hold up play was invaluable as always. Thanks to Tommy Gent and Tom Pearson whom, with extra time lurking, both failed to get any playing time this week but took the decision maturely. At home again next week to a Blackham and Ashurst side who broke Southborough’s 18 month unbeaten record so will prove more than useful opposition.
Team:
S.Balcombe
N.Edwards
T.Bowyer
C.Duncan
S.Palermo
H.Webb
C.Veli
L.Turner
L.Gent
O.Funnell
M.Wyles
Subs:
T.Pearson
T.Gent
C.Mallows
J.Miller
