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| A good performance away against Forest Row, only a week after playing them at home. We played exceptionally well the previous week, but it was obvious that Forest Row were one of the stronger teams in the division and we weren't expecting an easy ride. We dominated possession for the first fifteen minutes of the match, without really looking like scoring, but Forest Row began to get into the match and it was from their best attack, in the 20th minute, that the incident that ultimately decided the game came. James Faulkner made a great save, but a Forest Row player was quickest to react to the rebound. He hit a cross-cum-shot that one of their players punched into the net with his hand. Everyone was expecting a yellow card, but the referee judged it worthy of a straight red. Both teams were a bit shell-shocked for a few minutes, but with the advantage of the extra man we were able to increase our dominance and it was only a matter of time before we broke the deadlock. When the goal came it was from an unlikely source. Greg Byrne had won most of the ball in midfield, as usual, and in the 28th minute he was first to a kick-out from the Forest Row keeper. He was only trying to put the ball back in the danger area, but the ball went past the stranded keeper into the unguarded net. After 35 minutes we doubled the advantage. Jamie Wickham, returning from injury, took a fantastic inswinging corner from the right which Ben Spring met with a glancing header that went in off the far post. In the 41st minute Ben Spring made it three with a spectacular overhead kick from outside the penalty area that looped over the goalkeeper's head. We made a couple of changes at half-time and Jamie Wickham was forced to go off after a crunching tackle that left him with a badly bruised foot. The changes didn't help the shape of the team, but Ben Spring was brought down for a penalty which he calmly converted in the 9th minute of the second half to complete his hat trick. The last half hour of the match was fairly uneventful, but the players kept focused and deservedly gained their first clean sheet of the season. And four wins out of four in the league can't be bad. The goalkeeper and the defence worked hard, with Max Turner giving his best performance of the season so far. Greg Byrne was strong in midfield and Oli Leigh supported the attack well and provided good defensive cover. Ben Spring was chosen as man-of-the-match for a good all-round performance and three-well taken goals. |
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