Saxmundham Sports FC 0 vs 0 Shotley FC

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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">Another Saturday and another windy day the pitch in good condition but the wind was going to make playing conditions tricky.

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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">The visitors came to Carlton Park having gone 28 games back to last season scoring in every game and regularly scoring 5 or more in a game.

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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">We spoke about playing with the wind in the first half and lost the toss so we played against it. This proved to be a good thing as the lads played some really good football and created loads of chances that just wouldn&rsquo;t go in. Shotley looked dangerous when they had the ball and did hit the post with a long range effort that was then cleared away by the defence and the danger passed, they also had a goal ruled out for an offside. Apart from that they were limited to long range shots and using a long throw when they had the chance. Sax had a few good chances with the clearest one falling to Kyle &ldquo;Banjo Man&rdquo; Sore who was celebrating before he kicked the ball unfortunately he didn&rsquo;t kick the ball and the chance went. Sax continued to play well and the half ended 0-0

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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">At half time we spoke about carrying on as we had been doing but there were times when we did go a bit long which is understandable considering the conditions. Shotley were fired up for the 2nd half but don&rsquo;t seem to understand the off-side rule but that wasn&rsquo;t helped by the ref not noticing the flag very quickly, the lino (whoever he was) wasn&rsquo;t the most popular person up the park but I think calling him a c**t wasn&rsquo;t the best way to deal with it. The half was pretty much like the first half with chances both ends but unfortunately for us we couldn&rsquo;t find the back of the net. Towards the end of the half Rory had a clash of heads with a Shotley player which led to a 5 minute break in the play and both players needing treatment. Rory has a nice egg shaped lump on his forehead.

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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">All in all we would have taken a draw before the game and no doubt the visitors will say they would have beaten us if they had their full strength team but they didn&rsquo;t and we can only play the team that turns up and I think on balance of play Sax were the better team on the day. A good defensive display and a clean sheet all we have to do is start taking our chances and the improvement will continue.

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