02/18/07

2006 / 2007 Season 21/10/2006

Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by a better team. That is not to say Buxted folded up against Halsford‘s 1^st team. Quite the contrary in fact.

The early exchanges saw Buxted getting forward well looking to work the ball round the back of the Halsford defence and forcing a couple of early corners. The pressure didn’t bear any fruit however and when Halsford began attacking, the first goal came after about 7 minutes when the Buxted keeper literally spilled the ball at the feet of a lion for a tap-in. It has to be said that the conditions were extremely slippery after a rainy period earlier but it was unfortunate to “drop” a goal so early on when not under particular pressure.

Buxted’s composure wasn’t too shaken at this point though and it looked a fairly even contest for a while with the inexperienced Halsford youths giving a fair number of unnecessary free-kicks away. Gareth gave the keeper something to think about with a long range free-kick after about 13 minutes which nearly bounced over him and we looked ok until we got caught in possession down our right flank and began to see the damage Halsford were capable of when their winger cracked a simple ball across our box for a simple second goal. Another unfortunate error made the score-line look a little silly two minutes later as the ball slithered under our keeper this time.

After 35 minutes Buxted lost Mark to a thigh strain and all was not looking so well; although his replacement found himself in a super position to shoot minutes later but tried to walk the ball in! The lions’ keeper’s Achilles heel was discovered though as Dean whipped a free-kick in from the right to beat him from about 25 yards. Buxted’s second was only 4 minutes around the corner as Chris beat him in open play from a similar distance and at half-time (at 3-2) it looked a bit more as though there was a game on.

Unfortunately Buxted got little further opportunity to continue this long range barrage and after barely 5 minutes of the second half it was pretty much game over. Jörn hobbled off with a hamstring pull and Halsford had already got their first of 4 second half goals, none any more remarkable than the other, which would eventually leave Buxted flaked out and on the rack. We simply didn’t cope with the quality of the midfield onslaught; and at times Halsford were so rampant downhill it appeared that had a 4-5-3 formation going on. Dean left the field at 5-2 to be replaced by the redoubtable Bob who gave his all for the last 30 minutes and came as close as anyone to getting a goal back, with an effort from about 15 yards that squirmed through a bunch of players which had just one too many defenders in it. Between the 6^th and 7^th goals (on 22 and 39 minutes) Shane Bills unfortunately ruined our, previously unsullied, disciplinary record by squashing a defender in their box; but don’t worry Shane, all the team said they’d chip in to pay the fine for you……………not.

That aside, there were no performances to be criticized. The defence performed well enough for long periods. None more so than undisputed man-of-the-match; Russell {he’s here, he’s there, he’s every-xxxxing-where} Curd who NEVER stops and his tackling is sublime at times. We worked well up the left on occasions but on the whole we couldn’t hold the midfield and therefore gave our strike-force little service. Even trying to squeeze the play in the 2^nd half didn’t help as Halsford simply enjoyed the space left on the wings! It should also be mentioned that John Challis saved at least as many goals in the second half as he had let in during the first, and this “baptism of fire” debut behind the third team was as solid as one could’ve expected.  The good news is that Buxted won’t meet too many sides in this division with as much quality and cohesion in all areas as Halsford Lions have and we can thank the Lord for that.

Bring on Maresfield!

Lance Ingram.