Tuesday 26th February 2008
Sydenham’s Wessex League premier division

CHRISTCHURCH v BRADING TOWN

Following two disappointing performances both culminating in heavy defeats manager Graham Kemp made a few changes to his starting line up:

1 Rory Anderson
2 Colin Dand
3 Dan Taylor
4 Dan Crutchley
5 Steve Linpow
6 Lloyd Jenvey
7 Garry Funnell
8 Martin Lawrence
9 Zach Glasspool
10 Paul Manning
11 Paul Rideout

12 Marc Burrows
14 Les Wallace
15 Ross Walliss
16 Chris Dillon
17 Andy Borthwick

Following a mix up on the ferry Brading turned up with Cowes Sports blue kit rather than their own strip which necessitated Brading borrowing Christchurch’s away red kit for the evening. What a scoop for our sponsors – both teams playing with “IN-EXCESS” on their chests!

The first half saw a rather tepid performance from Christchurch with Zach Glasspool playing the lone striker role. The chances were far and few between but Paul Rideout did manage to hit the post when put through by Gary Funnell. Brading looked the more likely to score but a glaring miss towards the end of the half meant that the teams went for their break with both goalkeepers unbeaten.

Half time: Christchurch 0 Brading Town 0

The second half saw a much better display from Christchurch with some fine passing leading to many attacking moves. As the pressure built on Brading’s goal Gary Funnell was crossing some lovely centres into the danger area and Zach Glasspool, Paul Rideout and Martin Lawrence all came close to opening the scoring. Brading refused to buckle under the pressure and several good breakaway moves led to Rory Anderson in the Christchurch goal making several fine saves to keep his side level. As the clock ticked towards full time it became more and more likely that one goal would probably win the game. However we had to wait until 2 minutes from the end of normal time before we got a goal, and what a beauty it was. Several Christchurch corners were scrambled clear by the now overworked Brading Town defence when one such clearance reached Martin Lawrence some twenty yards from goal. Lawrence swung his right boot to joyfully despatch the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net for a glorious winner. Hard luck on Brading who themselves had chances to win the game but perhaps Christchurch deserved the result for their second half performance.

Final score: Christchurch 1 Brading Town 0

Man of the Match: RORY ANDERSON

The Bridgeman