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| We finally achieved our first victory of the season in a nail-biting cup tie against Tunbridge Wells Foresters 2000. We dominated the early stages of the match and Foresters were unable to get out of their own half for the first five minutes. The pressure eventually paid off as we took the lead with a left-foot shot from Jamie Wickham, who had narrowly missed from a similar angle a minute earlier. Perhaps the novelty of taking the lead in a match went to the boys' heads, as some sloppy defending allowed Foresters to equalise a minute later. The rest of the match was fairly even, with chances at both ends. We started the first period of extra time strongly and David Hartfield squeezed the ball over the line after Matthew English had a shot saved. Our concentration was much better this time and the boys worked really hard, looking the more likely team to score the next goal, but Foresters scored a second equaliser five minutes from the end of the second period of extra time. After 75 minutes of football on a heavy pitch, the boys' tiredness finally caught up with them in the last few minutes. Jamie Hards made a superb save to keep us in the match just before the end. And so to penalties... I didn't have any trouble finding volunteers. Matthew English bravely decided to go first, followed by David Hartfield, Greg Byrne, Mark Harrison and Jamie Wickham. Foresters took the first penalty and shot wide. Matthew English calmly slotted his penalty home. Foresters scored with their second penalty. David Hartfield showed remarkable calmness, even chatting with people in the crowd as he walked up to take his penalty. He put the ball close to the keeper, but powerfully enough not to be saved. Foresters' third penalty was saved by Jamie Hards. The Foresters goalkeeper got his hands to Greg Byrne's penalty, but it was too powerful to keep out. With the scorer at 3-1 after three penalties each, the next Foresters player had to score to keep the game alive, but his shot hit the post and rolled along the line into Jamie's hands. Victory at last. There were lots of good performances, with the defence solid, particularly Tom Ryan, and much-improved performances from James Hutchinson and David Hartfield in midfield, with Jamie Wickham lively as ever up front. Man of the match was goalkeeper Jamie Hards, more for his match-saving save in extra time than for his penalty shoot-out heroics. We're up for the cup! |
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