Away at Molesey

[benchsitter]

Finally the first league game arrives tomorrow. Away at Molesey, 3.00pm ko.

[benchsitter]

Good to get the season underway and we made a very good start. We pressed forward from the kick-off and after 6 mins we scored when a good interchange of passes between Brad Needham and Sam Slater released Freddie Kelsey to strike the ball home across the keeper. Two mins later Sam Slater placed a well struck free kick into the penalty area for Jay Warden to score. A good start but as the half went on Molesey got more into the play, but they only had 2 chances that came close and we were still at the same score at halftime.
We started the second half well and were controlling play for about 20 mins and then after 69 mins they managed to score with a miss-hit that looped over Brad in goal. This gave them some momentum but in the 80th minutes we took the score to 3-1 when newly introduced Mancini made a good run down the left beating 2 defenders and passed for Sam Slater to strike home. That should have been that .... but we managed to lose concentration and were unlocked by a straight ball from the kick off resulting in Jake bringing down their forward and a penalty being rightly awarded. The penalty was taken and Brad Sparks in goal saved it - great BUT the ref awarded a retake saying Brad had moved off his line and they scored from the retake. Still, only 9 mins to go, but we kept giving the ball away and with the ref adding on minutes of stoppage time, they got a corner in the 94th min. It was a well struck corner right into the danger area and their player headed in from 1 yard out to make is 3-3 with seconds to go.
Despite the final score and the frustration it generates, there were plenty of good points in this performance. We played the better football and for longer spells and there were some strong individual performances that we can build on.