Pelham Hang On With 10 Men!

Casuals and Pelham kicked off their league campaign with a hard fought 5-4 away win over Bishops Stortford Wanderers! After Pelham had beaten Wanderers 7-3 in pre season, they were hoping for a similar result and performance! However they made hard work of it and it wouldn't turn out to be as comfortable a win as a few weeks back! Pelham started the game well but lacked quality in the final third. Dan Boyce had a chance to put Steve Callan in early but fluffed his lines, and Callan had a 1 on 1 himself he couldn't convert! However Pelham were still reducing Wanderers chances with Hazell and Hamilton-Pilot looking solid at the back! It would be Pelham who would strike first as some good work from Richards down the right hand side saw the ball get crossed into the box. Tim Shaw hassled for the ball and nipped in before the defender, before getting his head up and squaring the ball across goal for Shane Tubridy to tap in at the back post, 1-0 Pelham. However despite Pelhams good start that lead would not last, with Wanderers striker finally getting his first look on goal towards the end of the half! He cut inside and let a thunderous shot go which swerved over the Monks head and into the back of the net, 1-1. The rest of the half was battled out in the middle of the park but the scoreline stayed at 1-1 at the half. The second half would turn out to be an eventful 45 minutes. Pelham took the lead making it 2-1 as a ball from Notley found Shaw who tried his luck at lobbing the keeper, with the ball bouncing over his head and into the net, 2-1. However Wanderers soon came back and made it 2-2, scoring directly from a freekick in the bottom corner. Pelham then retook the lead once again as as Shaw bagged his second of the game, with some more good work from Richards playing the striker in behind, 3-2 to Pelham. However drama occurred after that with Liam Perry mistiming his challenge on the Wanderers striker and taking him out. Being the last man, Perry was shown a straight red and given his marching orders. Wanderers scored again directly from the freekick, evening it up to 3-3. However Pelham took the lead again, as a Hamilton-Pilot throw was launched into the box and with Shaw lurking at the back post, the Wanderers defender tried to cut the ball to him out, only to put it in his own net, 4-3. 4 became 5 as Medfai was found by Shaw, stroking the ball home on the edge of the box into the top corner, 5-3. Wanderers would set up a nervy finish with yet another freekick being scored, 5-4. However Pelham dug deep and held on to the result, with the game finishing 5-4 and Pelhams 10 men working hard and putting a shift in. Not a great performance today but important thing is to get the win when we aren't playing well against a decent side. Today's man of the match could have gone to a number of people, and everyone put in a shift toddy, but Jamie Richards probably had his best game in a Pelham shirt so he gets today's man of the match award!