Weekly Review

Super Sub Does It Again! 

Everybody got back to winning ways again this week and once again it took all our teams back to the top of their table. However the result of the day for me was the win by the Southern Amateur League against the Sussex County League which took us through to the FA Inter-League Semi Final where we will meet either Jersey or Somerset. Anybody who was at the Ricoh Stadium, Coventry in 2008 will be willing our League Rep players to provide a repeat performance. Bob Leeds’s players did him proud by going 5-0 in front against Sussex before two late goals brought the final score of 5-2. Alex Ewin, Ian Cooper and Richard Parker all started the game with Matt Kerr coming on as a sub. Both Arren Sutcliffe and Dan Ashley were still unfit and took no part in the game although they were both there to support the team. 

Now talking of injuries it looks as if we may be coming out of a bad run. Ben Hickes appeared for 20 minutes in the 2’s game against Old Salesians at Tolworth. His first appearance for 3 months. I can tell you that this game was a great advert for the SAL Intermediate division. I have not seen two sides pass the ball so well at this level for a long time. Salesians had a young side out, but they gave this game a real go and our two’s were quick to say that this was one of the best sides they have played this season. In the end we kept our winning run going and a 3-1 win was the maximum we deserved as Salesians were our equals for most of the game. Johnny Briggs got us started on the half hour with a very well-taken penalty. Salesians equalised with a terrific strike from long distance from a neatly worked free kick. Almost immediately Dean Mitic towered above everyone at a corner to put us back in front and Paul Jacobs with his fifteenth of the season put us 3-1 up with an excellent shot across the keeper and inside the far post. 

The 3’s were away at Old Esthamians and Gary Cullinan, who has been out longer than Hickes, made his first appearance since October. Cullinan apparently scored the goal of the game as the 3’s stretched their lead at the top of the Junior Division 1. This was another solid performance with us scoring 5 good goals on a really poor pitch. Jimbo McNiel grabbed the first at the back post after an excellent cross by Gary Cullinan before David Shaw expertly finished to make it 2-0 after half time. Gary Cullinan notched an outstanding third with a dipping right foot volley and Matty Beckett came off the bench to grab goals 4 and 5 with another outstanding cameo, first guiding home a volley from 12 yards and then scrambling home a poachers goal from 3 yards.  MOM  goes to Simon Stanko who put in an industrious performance from centre midfield. Beckett has appeared as sub for the 2’s in the last three weeks and scored twice on each occasion. Last week he was in goal for the 3’s. Yesterday he was at it again! 

The 4’s finally put their horrible little run behind them, which ended with a horrible performance at Norsemen last week. Although they were huffing and puffing it was Civil Service who took the lead at Tolworth. Joe Phadnis hit the bar and Andy Wyatt had a shot blocked. 1-0 down at half time I just had the feeling we might pull this one out of the fire. The ref gave us a penalty with 20 minutes to go and Nick Haigh at last added to his tally of goals for the season. In the last 5 minutes Lewis Darvill managed to find the bottom corner for the winner. A good reward for Darvill who has played for the club for many years and gave a whole-hearted performance. Other to stand out for me were Steve Kaye at the back, Phadnis, Alex Gardner and Pete Morris in midfield who all drove the team forward in the second half. Civil Service missed a sitter and fired just over in a great counter-attack so it was very close all the way through to the end. A good game to watch!