Bad Day At The Office As Kingsthorne End 100% Start

The opportunity to equal our best ever start to a season was ended as Kingsthorne became the first team to inflict defeat upon us this campaign in what was a very bad day at the office. The pre-match mood was dampened by the poor condition of the pitch and no referee which meant their manager stepping up to allow the game to go ahead as planned. The stand-in referee wasn't the reason we lost our 100% record however, we simply weren't good enough on the day. Given our defensive record coming into this game was much improved and we let in more in one game than we had in the previous 8 demonstrated where it all went wrong.

Looking back it's unbelievable to think we actually took the lead after just 8 minutes when Gift Sibanda headed home his 11th of the season. Miss-communication at the back led to the equaliser after 13 minutes and just 2 minutes later we found ourselves 2-1 down. There was controversy to this however when Sam O'Neill was clearly fouled in the build up which wasn't awarded. The response to going behind was positive however we just couldn't make our chances count. Alex McDonald desperate to open his account for the season failed to hit the target on two occasions and Charlie Hacking hit a left footed shot which was tipped over by their keeper. Skipper Paddy Clegg followed in a rebounded effort to finish with a tidy half volley to draw us level and had two other long range efforts that were blocked but destined to be on target. Our number 8 was then responsible for a great goal line clearance that kept us level going into the interval. Half time 2-2.

Jude Carroll and Zico Williams replaced Treasue Asuquo and Gift Sibanda respectively at the break. Very poor defending was to be our downfall in the second period. Two conceded from corners, one from a cross that wasn't stopped and an individual effort from their number 10 who caused us countless problems all afternoon was the difference. Kaleb Sweeney's 3rd of the season and Hackings clinical finish had looked to got us back into the game until their 6th of the day summed us up. It restored our opponents 2 goal cushion and despite McDonald's well taken finish we simply left it all too late. Chances still fell our way however we became more and more desperate and had to suffer the taste of defeat which we haven't experienced since back in June.

Today must be a warning that nothing is won yet and under no circumstances can we allow sloppiness or complacency to rear it's ugly head again otherwise the impressive start to the season will mean absolutely nothing. What must come next is a roll our sleeves up attitude to put things right and react positively in 7 days time to ensure the title charge isn't derailed.