Saturday 3rd October 2009 - Reserve Division Cup

The ressies found themselves back in Cup action following the narrow defeat in the Kent County Cup and with a tough looking tie at Crockenhill, early season conquerors of Orpington 9-1. And if ever there was a match that demonstrated the spirit and attitude of the boys this was it.

We started well and pressed early on offering little opportunity to the Crockenhill forward line and just lacking that final ball. That was rectified when Harrison Derry finished off a slick passing move to maintain his position at the top of the scoring charts and a 1-0 lead. With about 15 minutes to go, Brian Allen left the pitch with an injured rib to be replaced by Nash Majome. Although this should have been the platform to greater things, we appeared to relax a little too much and allow errors to creep into our game inviting pressure on to the defence. It was still disappointing however when a ball was a sloppy piece of defending in the area conceded a penalty, and the concession of the lead.

Half time 1-1

The second half at one point seemed to be completely against Coney Hall - anything that could go wrong did go wrong! We started well and it was not long into the half that the lead was restored through Luke Jenner. We then ‘scored’ again, the referee apparently the only person in the ground not to notice. The player who cleared it was actually touching the back of the net when he did so. The entire Crockenhill team stopped assuming a kick-off was to follow but all to no avail. We continued to press, but then with 20 minutes left, Harrison was caught by a loose arm and with a broken nose and some concussion was not really in a fit state to continue (although we were all pleased to find out after the match there was no more serious damage). With his brother Tom leaving as well with the ambulance, a double substitution was necessitated with Ross Huxley stepping into the breach in goal. Following the 30 minute break whilst the ambulance arrived, we immediately stepped up to the task. Having reverted to a 4-5-1 formation, Luke went past his man playing in an unfamiliar left midfield position, only to find himself bundled to the floor. Quick thinking saw him leap up and take the free-kick into the path of debutant Pete Nolan who calmly slotted home for a 3-1 lead. Crockenhill started to throw everything forward, and got a consolation with a minute to go, but a thoroughly deserved win will see us travel to Fleet Leisure in the next round.

Crockenhill Reservers 2 Coney Hall Reserves 3

Team: Tom Derry (Ross Huxley), Billy Perry, Tom Perkins, Jason Coates, Dean Edmett, Jason Lincoln (c), Pete Nolan, Harrison Derry (Nick Taylor), Ricky Francis, Brian Allen (Nash Majome), Luke Jenner.
Scorers: H Derry, Jenner, Nolan  Man of the Match: Nash Majome