Reserve Division West

A much improved performance from that at Fleet still wasn't enough to deliver what would have been a deserved win. Coming against a physical Belvedere XI, we played some excellent football at times but just lacked a killer touch in the final third. Belvedere put the pressure on in the first 10 minutes but we weathered the storm well and as the half rogressed our attractive passing football started to turn the screw. The returning Luke Jenner looked excellent sat just behind Nick Taylor up front and both went close on a couple of occasions, with Nick forcing a save when through 1 on 1. The goal was coming though and it duly arrived when a barnstorming run out of defence saw Tom Ababio stride past 4 or 5 challenges to go through on goal, and lay the ball through for Luke to finish off into an open net. We conceded minutes later in unfortunate circumstances with. Tom came out wide to challenge, and as he did so clattered into the railings at the side of the pitch and was left lying on the ground as the play progressed. However, we stopped playing expecting the ref to blow up and we were caught short in central defence as a result, the drilled cross being finished off by the Belvedere forward. It would be easy to blame the referee for the goal (and he was undoubtedly inconsistent in stopping play for injuries later in the match), but we shouldn't have stopped and made it too easy to concede the equaliser.

HT 1-1

Hopes were high for the second half and we continued to look threatening, but as the half progressed we started to get muscled off the ball too easily and we conceded two goals to quick breaks out of defence. However, we continued to press and, whereas the previous week our heads dropped and we descended into bickering, this week the attitude was much better and didn't let our heads drop. One through ball from Jay Mann set Nick Taylor through only for his effort to go narrowly wide of the upright and a long range volley from Brian Allen forced a smart save from the keeper. Although the result is disappointing there are signs that the team is starting to adapt to a new formation and style of play. Although we need to sustain our level of concentration and consistency for the full 90 minutes still exists, they could be proud of their efforts in this game against a well organised and very strong and physical Belvedere XI. FT 1-3

Coney Hall Reserves 1 Belvedere Reserves 3

Goalscorer: Luke Jenner

Team: Tom Derry, Dan Hinton, Tom Perkins, Jason Coates(C) Dwayne Patrice, Tom Ababio, Pete Nolan (Brian Allen),
Luke Jenner, Nick Taylor, Josh Hamit (Jay Mann), Harrison Derry

Man of the Match: Tom Ababio