Maturing Performances All Round

On Sunday morning we made the short trip to the Pedestal Playing Fields to take on Downley Dynamos.

With illness and unavailability affecting the squad we went into the game with a small squad of 12 compared to recent weeks.

We had Downley on the back foot from the off with a combination of good goalkeeping and wayward shooting keeping us at bay.

This soon changed when Joshua Harrison made a characteristic charging run through the home defence and hammered home despite the Downley keeper getting a hand to the ball.

Elliott Behan then made it two nil as he also broke free of the home defence to slot home.

Two further goals were added before half time as Joshua Cotton fired the ball into the top left hand corner of the goal from 20 yards out and Joshua Harrison added a second goal to his total for the day.

The second half saw us playing down the hill and plenty of chances were created but we were reduced to only two extra goals thanks to some more superb home goalkeeping and an improved second half performance from the home defence.

The two goals came via Andrew Carr who squeezed the ball when under pressure from home defenders and Elliott Behan with a brilliantly executed free kick from outside of the area.

Overall I consider this to be a very mature and professional team performance. Oliver Foster had a quieter game than usual in goal but his handling and kicking were both excellent went called upon and Kaelin Shaw started the game up front but covered every blade of grass in the opposition's half in the first half giving us a little extra in the middle of the field.

Our defenders, Nathan Bosworth, Jacob Oliver, Ben Philbey and Igor Chrzanowski all played with confidence on the ball and dealt with the Downley attacks later in the game as a team within the team which is what I have wanted to see all season. We were fortunate to be able to move Igor into centre midfield for part of the second half where he was as equally as effective and showed what an asset to the squad he is.

Substitute Nelson Nkanzei played the majority of the second half and confused the home defence with his skills before being moved into defence for the final knockings of the game due to his tackling ability. James Gibson also came on at half time and played excellently down the right flank and I continue to be impressed by his willingness to force the opposition onto the back foot.

We now have a short break for half term before recommencing with a home game against Haddenham on November 9th.

We have had a fantastic start to the season and there is very little I can criticise the team for. However when we return I would like to see an end to us giving away needless free kicks which put us under pressure and a little more football played out wide away from the congested centre area of the pitch.