Match Reports - December 1, 2012

The 1st XI went nine points clear in Hampshire/Surrey 1 with a gritty 2-0 win over second-placed London Academicals and the Ladies beat Georgians 2-0 with two goals in 30 seconds in the first-half. The 2nd XI were held 1-1 by Purley in a feisty game which we ended with nine players, while the ten-man 3rd XI overcame two no-shows to beat Kenley 2-1 

London Academicals 0-2 1st XI
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Report to follow


Ladies XI 2-0 Old Georgians

A tough game against Old Georgians, who had inflicted the first defeat of the season on leaders OKs a week before, was always likely and so it proved, the difference between the sides two goals within 40 seconds of each other.

We dominated the first half, slick passing and superb wing play leading to a succession of chances and causing the frightening OGs keeper to raise her game and decibel level in equal measure.  Philly opened the scoring on 25 minutes with a poacher’s goal and then straight from the restart Jackie fired in a second. At the break the OGs were on the rack.

To their credit they came out firing and had the lion’s share of the ball in the second half but only produced one shot as our defence proved solid even if we again showed a tendency to squander possession.  The oppo singled out Sarah Mann as the key player at the back, although their claim “without her we’d have won” possible overlooked their lack of a forward who could finish. Despite much of the second-half play being in our half we still looked the more likely to score on the break and created regular chances.

2nd XI 1-1 Purley Walcountians

Report to follow


Kenley 1-2 3rd XI

Well what a game!!! A heroic performance very fitting that it came on a weekend when England beat the All Blacks, when the bookies had England with the odds 12-1 against them.

When we arrived at the pitch in Kenley, on what has to be one of the coldest pitches in Surrey, not everyone was looking quite so pleased that the game had not been frozen off?

We looked over at the oppo and soon realised that their average age was probably less than half of ours. Soon we were to realise that the challenge was going to be made even more difficult, when at push back there were two no shows, leaving us with just 10 men.

The game started and Kenley showed us they were certainly going to run us ragged with the youth they had in their team. At the back Sean, Ollie and Ed were doing an incredible job putting in challenge after challenge and ensuring that they did not get to many chances on goal. When they did get through Mick was up the challenge, some fantastic saves.

Howie in the middle, made a nuisance of himself, playing the Ji Sung Park role and acting like a terrier putting pressure on Kenley every time they got the ball, not only that the ball was distributed well.

Evo, who was playing up front was doing a great job of holding the ball up and waiting the midfield to join him. I can tell you that he was waiting a while, particular for Bents to catch up. The first goal came from that Evo held the ball up, passed it calmly to Howie, who saw CB charging up the right hand side of the pitch. CB managed to take on two Kenley players before finding himself in the D and unleashing a shot on goal, managing to slot the ball into the bottom left hand corner. Who said the centre backs could not score????

We went into half time 1-0 up, quite remarkable. CB words at half time were, “lets hold tight and pick our opportunities to press forward”

Anyway unfortunately pressure did tell in the second half and Kenley managed somehow to get one passed our on form keeper. We at this point could have sat back and thought we will just hold onto the ball, but I have to say the team had other ideas. Bish and Rob J were using the width on the pitch and making some great runs down the left and right of the pitch. CB had now decided to play a centre forward rather than a centre back and take the game to Kenley. His persistence paid off eventually the ball was passed down the right and CB managed to slot another on from a tight angle.

Unbelievably we found ourselves 2-1 up!!!! We had to sit tight now, so we moved back, we looked like individually we had all  run marathon’s, absolutely shattered. CB slotted back into and centre back role and Evo slotted into midfield and started to chuck very effective aerials for Rob J and Bish to chase, this did wind the clock down nicely. Anyway we held out and incredible effort by everyone on the pitch. There is no man of the match, because I could have nominated all 9 players. I have to say my legs have never felt heavier than when I woke up on Sunday morning. Chris Bents