Friendly v Wickham Market 1st November 2008

We turned up at Wickham with a very much depleted squad. With several players missing due to half term holidays we were down to the bare minimum. Add in a couple of call offs due to illness were down to 13 players. Ollie Spink was clearly suffering from illness but gamely refused to call off. The rule is simple. Ollie doesn't miss matches!! By the end of the day we would be down even more!! Wickham on the other hand had a healthy squad but no pitch!! Due to a mix up the pitch was being created around us as we warmed up. It was still ready in time for kick off.

A Game

Squad- Ollie S in goal, Connor S in defence, Jack, Keiran and Ollie M in midfield, Dash and Freddie up front. No subs. (all of the B team on standby)

The game kicked off and we were immediately in control. Winning the ball, passing and retaining possesssion. Most of the half was played in their half of the pitch with Wickham attacks being kept to a minimum. We struggled however to convert the possession into goal chances. The ball just wasn't getting through to the strikers. This was mainly downt to the quality of the final ball. Something in recent games we've done very well in. The closest we got was a shot from Freddie just outside the box which beat the keeper but smacked the post. We looked dangerous from corners but just couldn't get that final touch.
Wickham had one decent attack in the half and scored 0-1!
Keiran who was playing well in the centre took a kick to the knee and was unable to play on. Curtis was drafted in to the central role. 0-1 was the half time score.

In the second half we started to look more dangerous up front and started creating chances. Wickham also came out fighting and played much better than in the first half and started causing us problems at the back. Connor and Ollie dealt with these well as Jack and Ollie worked extremely hard up and down the wings.
We thought we'd equalised when Jack and Dash combined to get the ball to Curtis who fired in from a tight angle. The ball hit the back post and went in. The ref deemed that the ball had gone through a hole in the net and disallowed it.
Dash and Freddie were getting a bit more of the ball and were getting closer with the chances. Eventually Dash took the ball down the left and passed across to Freddie who powered a shot towards goal. The keeper managed to get his hand on it but the power carried it over the line. 1-1
From then on it was end to end stuff and I thought Wickham looked the more dangerous in the closing stages. Me and the Wickham manager had just agreed that a draw seemed a fair result and it would be a shame for one team to lose when the Wickham striker shot and almost broke the crossbar!!
We lost yet another player when Curtis collapsed holding his thigh and had to go off. Very worrying as there was no one near him so he may have pulled or tore something. Cammy was dafted into the ill-fated central position. (He managed to last the game and played in the B game)

The final score was 1-1. In my opinion a fair result and an eye opener as we play them for real in the league in a few weeks time.
Man of the match gets harder to pick every week as the team continue to play well as a unit. Which is a good thing. This week it goes to Ollie Spink. He was dying before the game but ended up playing very well and against the odds survived to the end!!

B Game

The line up was Harley in goal, Kyle in defence, Alex, Cammy and Ollie M in midfield, Freddie and Nat up front.

With only five players available including Cammy who had stepped into the A game, we had to draft in players to make up the numbers. This is allowed as it's only a friendly. Freddie and Ollie who had just put in a hard 50 minutes in the first game found themselves straight back in the action.

Straight from the kick off we were in attack. We were rewarded within the first minute as Cammy won the ball and laid it off to Freddie who sent Alex down the left. Freddie followed and provided an option just as we have been training for the last year. Alex passed it back and Freddie shot from the edge of the box and scored. I don't think the keeper saw it until very late as the box was full of bodies. 1-0.

Wickham kicked off, we won the ball, Freddie sent Alex down the left, Alex passed back to Freddie who scored from the edge of the box!! 2-0. This was almost a carbon copy of the first goal. At this point I thought we could possibly score past this keeper with every shot. We had so far!! The second goal was hit with more power and the keeper needed treatment as it had bent his hand back. He then went on to have a superb game and made a number of excellent saves.

**Vagueness Alert***
Wickham score to make it 2-1.

Dash was brought on and combined well with Ollie Mac to set up a chance for Nat who finished it well. 3-1
Wickham kicked off Dash won the ball, ran through and scored. 4-1.
This time from the kick off Wickham ran forward and pulled one back. 4-2
We kicked off this time and Jack carried the ball down the left, crossed and Dash scored his second of the game 5-2.
In a bizarre few minutes 4 goals were scored.

Kyle was having a solid game at the back but as we swarmed forward it left gaps which occassionaly Wickham took advantage of. Harley was also having a good game and made several great saves to keep us ahead.

The game settled down a bit with both midfields battling well in the middle. Cammy controlled the centre very well and was not only winning the ball but passing intelligently as well. Dash managed to break down the left and crossed to Nat, who scored his second of the game. 6-2.

Wickham pulled one more back to make it 6-3 the final score. The Wickham keeper played very well in the second half, pulling off great saves to deny Dash and Freddie further goals.

This is another game where man of the match is very difficult to call. This week it goes to Kyle for his strong defending and great commitment.