Goals - Andrew Williams x2, Alex Laugharne, Jordan Mills
Starting lineup –
Jamie Bailey
Liam Angell (c)
Karl Bolton
David Szabo
John Ewens
Alex Laugharne
Ash Farrell
Callum Mayfield
Pete Snell
Andrew Williams
Jordan Mills
Subs –
Nick Etty
Barry Clark
Stephen Dodd
A beautiful day for football and a few returning players, including Karl Bolton (after a few weeks away) & Barry Clark (after his London Marathon exploits), made me feel quietly confident about this match. After my cycle from South Ealing to South Bank Cuaco (Dulwich) was a smooth ride but this match was anything but. After our recent run we were in great spirits & the banter in the changing room was good with a couple of, let’s say, controversial additions to jokes made by yours truly, but we went out for our warm up and drills awaiting one of our centre backs. Shooting practice was done as we had the time & early in the game it seemed to pay dividends early on, but i’ll get on to that shortly.
By the time the match started we were ready to go but South Bank actually had a good few players who showed up late, ringers? not sure, but even so it shouldn’t have mattered as we actually raced into an early lead that should have been unassailable. Think, Liverpool v Arsenal at Anfield in the way we raced into the lead with us being ruthless in front of goal & even when we mis-kicked attempts, we seemed to have luck on our
side, definitely a description of Jordan Mills’ goal after Andrew Williams scuffed his attempt. Alex Laugharne’s swivel & shot to score left their keeper grasping thin air as he dived towards the corner. Andrew was in somewhat inspired form this week as he bagged a brace with a ruthless strikers instinct, pouncing on mistakes, and their GK seemed to be in a giving mood in terms of mistakes.
Just like Brentford v Chesterfield we conspired to concede at least 2 goals from corners but balls over the top caught us at the back as well with us trying to play a high line & the ref not calling offsides playing against us, a 4 goal lead surrendered and all of us weren’t happy about it. When South Bank got themselves into the game they started to impose themselves on it and their wide men were getting a lot more of the ball & the sheer pace of their attacks were bothering us as we’re not blessed with pace at the back. They were controlling the ball in midfield as well which put Ash & Alex under a lot of pressure & meant that on a general basis we didn’t have much respite between attacks. The goals we conceded were generally sloppy & could have been avoided but a definite lack of communication meant we conceded, and kept conceding especially from corners, which was doubly frustrating as we did do corner drills pre-match. With every goal we conceded, South Bank grew in confidence and eventually they’d drawn level & then edged ahead and THE turning point of the match was when Andrew Williams 3rd goal was disallowed for a supposed foul on the keeper who in my view, bottled out of the challenge.
The 2nd half had fight but the lack of communication was still blatantly evident as we kept trying to press for an equaliser after we’d let a 4-0 lead slip. Half time changes were made with David Szabo & Pete Snell coming off & Barry Clark coming on to make up the extra man in midfield & Stephen Dodd filling in for me at left back as I switched in to centre back to partner Karl to try and improve communication in the back line. It improved a bit but Karl ended up having to come off so Stephen ended up moving alongside me at CB & Pete Snell came on and became the 2nd person to fill in at my LB position.
Chances came & chances went from open play & from corners, most notably with Andrew heading over and their keeper pulling off a couple of saves which would have been regarded as impossible based on his performance in the first 30 minutes. My personal rallying cry at half time saw us fight and fight hard but unfortunately we went down to defeat in yet another match at South Bank Cuaco this season where we could have left with 3 points.
The final whistle brought to an end a frustrating match (which must have been brilliant for a neutral) which was summed up by Pete Snell’s evident frustration when he shouted the words ‘F’N SH*T REFEREE’, of course I don’t advocate that behaviour (I did apologise to the ref in the clubhouse) but I felt the same way so I could understand the frustrations. I did reiterate to everyone back in the changing room that our survival destiny is
in our own hands but our double header v Old Wilsonians becomes even more important, in fact it’s now absolutely crucial that we get at least 4 points (I want 6) as they are just above us in the league table.
Our Arsenal-esque capitulation aside, we can’t expect other teams to do us favours if we don’t do ourselves any. We need fight, we need heart, we need energy,
we need communication and bottom line, WE NEED POINTS!!!
Destiny is in our hands, so let’s make survival ours & make these efforts worthwhile as we’ve had a great run to get ourselves to this point!
Jamie Bailey
Liam Angell (c)
Karl Bolton
David Szabo
John Ewens
Alex Laugharne
Ash Farrell
Callum Mayfield
Pete Snell
Andrew Williams
Jordan Mills
Subs –
Nick Etty
Barry Clark
Stephen Dodd
A beautiful day for football and a few returning players, including Karl Bolton (after a few weeks away) & Barry Clark (after his London Marathon exploits), made me feel quietly confident about this match. After my cycle from South Ealing to South Bank Cuaco (Dulwich) was a smooth ride but this match was anything but. After our recent run we were in great spirits & the banter in the changing room was good with a couple of, let’s say, controversial additions to jokes made by yours truly, but we went out for our warm up and drills awaiting one of our centre backs. Shooting practice was done as we had the time & early in the game it seemed to pay dividends early on, but i’ll get on to that shortly.
By the time the match started we were ready to go but South Bank actually had a good few players who showed up late, ringers? not sure, but even so it shouldn’t have mattered as we actually raced into an early lead that should have been unassailable. Think, Liverpool v Arsenal at Anfield in the way we raced into the lead with us being ruthless in front of goal & even when we mis-kicked attempts, we seemed to have luck on our
side, definitely a description of Jordan Mills’ goal after Andrew Williams scuffed his attempt. Alex Laugharne’s swivel & shot to score left their keeper grasping thin air as he dived towards the corner. Andrew was in somewhat inspired form this week as he bagged a brace with a ruthless strikers instinct, pouncing on mistakes, and their GK seemed to be in a giving mood in terms of mistakes.
Just like Brentford v Chesterfield we conspired to concede at least 2 goals from corners but balls over the top caught us at the back as well with us trying to play a high line & the ref not calling offsides playing against us, a 4 goal lead surrendered and all of us weren’t happy about it. When South Bank got themselves into the game they started to impose themselves on it and their wide men were getting a lot more of the ball & the sheer pace of their attacks were bothering us as we’re not blessed with pace at the back. They were controlling the ball in midfield as well which put Ash & Alex under a lot of pressure & meant that on a general basis we didn’t have much respite between attacks. The goals we conceded were generally sloppy & could have been avoided but a definite lack of communication meant we conceded, and kept conceding especially from corners, which was doubly frustrating as we did do corner drills pre-match. With every goal we conceded, South Bank grew in confidence and eventually they’d drawn level & then edged ahead and THE turning point of the match was when Andrew Williams 3rd goal was disallowed for a supposed foul on the keeper who in my view, bottled out of the challenge.
The 2nd half had fight but the lack of communication was still blatantly evident as we kept trying to press for an equaliser after we’d let a 4-0 lead slip. Half time changes were made with David Szabo & Pete Snell coming off & Barry Clark coming on to make up the extra man in midfield & Stephen Dodd filling in for me at left back as I switched in to centre back to partner Karl to try and improve communication in the back line. It improved a bit but Karl ended up having to come off so Stephen ended up moving alongside me at CB & Pete Snell came on and became the 2nd person to fill in at my LB position.
Chances came & chances went from open play & from corners, most notably with Andrew heading over and their keeper pulling off a couple of saves which would have been regarded as impossible based on his performance in the first 30 minutes. My personal rallying cry at half time saw us fight and fight hard but unfortunately we went down to defeat in yet another match at South Bank Cuaco this season where we could have left with 3 points.
The final whistle brought to an end a frustrating match (which must have been brilliant for a neutral) which was summed up by Pete Snell’s evident frustration when he shouted the words ‘F’N SH*T REFEREE’, of course I don’t advocate that behaviour (I did apologise to the ref in the clubhouse) but I felt the same way so I could understand the frustrations. I did reiterate to everyone back in the changing room that our survival destiny is
in our own hands but our double header v Old Wilsonians becomes even more important, in fact it’s now absolutely crucial that we get at least 4 points (I want 6) as they are just above us in the league table.
Our Arsenal-esque capitulation aside, we can’t expect other teams to do us favours if we don’t do ourselves any. We need fight, we need heart, we need energy,
we need communication and bottom line, WE NEED POINTS!!!
Destiny is in our hands, so let’s make survival ours & make these efforts worthwhile as we’ve had a great run to get ourselves to this point!
I’m Straight Shootin’ LJA and that’s my take on the match
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