Cov Saints Halt Affinity’s Unbeaten Run

<p>With sodden pitches still the order of the day Affinity turned to the Blue Coat 3G for the third game running. With good wins in the previous two visits Affinity&rsquo;s confidence was high but Cov Saints would provide a sterner test than both Holy Trinity and St Johns.

<p>From the start it was clear that Affinity would be given little time on the ball today as Saints pressed tightly. Affinity were struggling to keep any decent possession in the early exchanges with Saints pressure forcing mistakes that would unfortunately be a factor for most of the game.

<p>Saints took the lead 20 minutes into the half profiting from some defensive indecision in the Affinity box. The Affinity defence were being tested form both flanks with Henry and Chris having to be really disciplined to keep attacks to a minimum and Sean and Gilly were using all of their football nouse to keep the flexible and speedy Saints&rsquo; attackers at bay.

<p>Affinity did have a number of forages into the Saints half with Gurps, James, Mike A and Ian working really hard to provide the platform to move forward but Saints&rsquo; midfield and defence were working equally as hard to limit Fra and Will to scraps. Will would be involved in Affinity&rsquo;s best move of the half as he cushioned a cross field ball from James into Gurps&rsquo; path but his delightful shot was pushed onto the bar by the Saints&rsquo; keeper who had earlier showed signs of suspect handling.

<p>Affinity buoyed by this effort had a period of more sustained possession towards the end of the 1st half without any further clear attempts on goal materialising.

<p>The 2nd half was pretty much a mirror image of the first with Saints&rsquo; man for man energy levels testing Affinity fitness and their ability to create themselves enough space to give them time to make good pass choice decisions and the ability to ute them successfully.

<p>A second Saints&rsquo; goal showed their power and pace with the scorer just outpacing Gilly and able to push the ball past Aron as he moved out to narrow the angle. A third goal followed relatively quickly from a corner with Affinity heads now starting to drop. Encouraged by team mates on the pitch and those watching Affinity players redoubled their efforts to get themselves back in the game. During this period of play James had Affinity&rsquo;s best effort of the second half to that point with a raking shot across the goal from the right being saved with the outstretched boot of the Saints' keeper.

<p>Further efforts from Mike A and Ian followed but it wasn&rsquo;t going to be Affinity&rsquo;s day with Saints taking a deserved 3 points and showing how the pressing game limits the opposition time to make good decisions.

<p>Affinity&rsquo;s man of the match goes to Gurps who battled hard, had our best effort of the day and was constantly looking for positional changes to get Affinity back into the game