Surrey Wanderers vs Surbiton Lions
5 - 1
27 January 2019 · Chessington & District Sunday Football League<br>Division 2
Away league match played on 27 January 2019.
Kicked off at 10:30 AM
5-1
vs Surrey Wanderers
Away league match
This game pretty much sums up our season where we were much the better team for the first twenty minutes during which we forced the opposition keeper into making some telling saves. Our breakthrough goal came through another penalty converted by Harry M after Max had been fouled and we seemed to be on top, with Wanderers struggling to get out of their own area.
However, Wanderers had pace and trickery down the flanks and for the latter part of the first half and once they worked out we didn't have the pace to match them, they turned us inside out on the wings. A few last gasp stops by yours truly in goal and some stout defending by Harry Mac, Boan, Ed and Nick S kept them at bay but they up kept with the tactics and it eventually bore fruit when their No 7 squared it from our left for the No. 9 to tap home.
Both teams hit the woodwork in the first half, ours a shot off the bar by Max and their's a late free kick that came off the outside of the far post. Their keeper made a couple of good saves and Boan made a great clearance of the goal line to see that we went into the break all square.
We started the second half like we started the first, but then we got caught out by their pace down their right wing on the counter and their No. 9's low strike crept in at the near post. A few minutes later, our midfield got caught in possession, a nutmeg though Nath and the ball was once again down the same channel. Same player, different corner, same result.
We were rocking badly and just couldn't cope with their tactics and we seemed to be struggling with playing uphill on the infamous Effingham incline. They added a fourth when a close range shot could only be parried into the path of a their striker for a tap in and then the fifth was a long range effort that caught me off my line.
We didn't really test their keeper again until the latter stages of the second half and they had plenty more chances to add to the score but we managed to keep it on the edge of respectability. New boy Calvin had a good game in his first full debut and the defence worked hard but overall it was a day when we really didn't do ourselves justice. We couldn't make the ball stick up top or in the middle of the park in the second half and their attack was simply too good for us. Not having any subs due to people not turning up didn't help either.
Becoming a very long season...