02/18/07

2006 / 2007 Season 09/09/2006

After a couple of pretty good pre-season performances {including a victory snatched from the jaws of defeat} the side must be disappointed with their overall performance here. The two sides looked fairly well-matched until the half hour mark and even at 2-0 down there still appeared to be some belief that there was at least a point in the game for Buxted.

The first two goals [a free header from a third unnecessary free-kick in the same spot, and a shot from the edge of the box that swerved enough to beat Andy at the near post to his right] were fair enough. The third a few minutes before the break however saw an unfortunate by-line misunderstanding between Andy and Nigel spilling the ball for a grateful Villager to tap into an empty net.

Having replaced the ailing Iain with Russ just before half-time, and the bewildered-looking Simon with a very keen-looking Craig at half-time I felt we could at least salvage a goal or two in the second half.

Sure enough, we looked a bit more positive and, with Craig being asked to push up alongside Shane and linking up well with Chris, a little more likely to score. The final turning point came though when the first player to react to a long-range Villagers’ strike which rebounded off the foot of our post, was another man in white who struck very well to end the contest for good.

Franklands appeared to settle for this and only really played on the break from this point on. It worked too as the next two goals took advantage of our adjustment to a 4-4-2 formation and were bog-standard ‘catch-‘em-on-the-break’ efforts which had our defence back-peddling just like in the good old/ bad old days. Even though there were two separate off-side shouts in the build up to the 6^th and final goal, even our own linesman didn’t seem too interested in raising a flag.

The fact that the home side settled after four meant that we looked as if we were pegging them back in the last 15 minutes. We failed to score though of course (or even seriously test the keeper) during this spell and that perhaps was the main difference between the two sides – the fact that we simply could not hit the target! 

The main positives to take from the game:

Another man-of-the-match performance from Matty “my nose is bleeding again” Scott, who did more sweeping up than Boy George on community service.

Ben Thomas’ energy and work-rate nearly making things happen – the time will come when the ball will bounce for us and his tirelessness will pay dividends.

Craig’s performance up front. Going at defenders with pace and confidence can only ever be a good thing and he should take great heart from his debut today.

Lance Ingram