Another frustrating weekend for the reserves. Losing 3 players 24 hours prior to Ko was not the ideal preparation in a fixture that we really believed we could bring something away from. Despite the unrest, the boys started well, got on the ball early and pressed the opposition into unforced errors. The signs were good.

Totally against the run of play a misplaced clearance on the edge of the box fell to the feet of their striker who quickly moved the ball on for their winger to fire a well placed shot out of reach to the diving and deputising Alex Goodson. the response however was positive and within 3 minutes Max Pitts danced into the box and was tripped by their keeper. Rich promptly converted to restore the game level. Soon after from a corner Rich had the ball at his feet and not sure if it was the wind or a touch from the opponent but he fell placing pressure on the young referee who succumbed and awarded the second penalty, same player, same outcome and we went into the half 2-1 up and in total control.

The opposition were clearly rattled however we again came out positive and had 2 great chances firstly from Alex Willmore who fired over the bar from inside the box whilst Owen Rice had a great chance soon after narrowly placing his shot wide having been put through. Either of these go in and its a different game. The opposition started to grow in confidence and produced a couple of chances before getting to the bar line and crossing for glancing header to evade Alex and level the game. On the ascendancy they pushed and forced a mistake at the back to make it 3-2 before scoring another on full time.

I have no doubt that with a recognised keeper and more players on the bench we would have seen this game out and taken the points. The performance was pleasing, the desire and work rate of all and not forgetting the unselfish act of Alex to go in goal is enough to prove that we will be ok this year. We are still in a better position than this stage last year and hopefully will be back to full strength next week. We just need a little bit of luck in front of goal and kill games off.