Burton v Christchurch

Match Result: 1 - 8

Goal Scorers: Jonathan C (2), Stuart, Miles, Lewis C (2), Sam, Callum

Burton are renowned for making a strong start to their matches and although we beat them convincingly at home, we knew they were still a threat and had a few strong players which we needed to isolate. They had only lost 4-1 to League leaders Redhill a few weeks before. We hoped if we could gain the upper hand with an early lead, then the flood gates would open. As expected both teams battled hard for possession, Burton pressing us back in the first few minutes, as Christchurch looked a bit un-composed, with poor first touches, sloppy tackling and stray passes. Burton mounted the first few attacks, catching our backline out a few times, as we looked sluggish. After 10 mins, we won a throw on the left, at the halfway line, Jack J threw to Sam, who controlled, turned & played in Lewis up the left wing. Lewis used his pace to loose his marker and calmly placed his shot past the Burton Keeper. Shortly after Jack C had a similar opportunity, attacking from the right, but put the ball wide at the far post. After 15 mins, I tried pushing Callum upfront with Lewis, Stu into central-mid with Brad and Jonathan into central defence with Paul. We still weren’t playing well and the match was even. Both Brad & Stu had very good long range efforts on goal but both just going over the crossbar. Jonathan played well out of position at the back.

Half-time: 0 - 1

Our lead was slender and we knew we had increase our lead before Burton equalised. The small pitch size didn’t suit us, as we were too compressed, so a few more changes saw Jonathan push upfront with Lewis, Callum back into central mid with Stu, Brad out to the left wing, & Sam back into central defence with Paul. Thankfully these changes worked in our favour, as the formation clicked immediately and the boys started the second half on fire. From our centre, the ball was played up through middle to Lewis, who again broke through and beat the Keeper. A few minutes later, Burton broke through our back line and netted a goal, beating Finn at the far post, to put the pressure back on, 1-2. Callum soon restored our 2 goal lead, as he broke through from midfield and hammered a shot in. Moments later a through ball to Jonathan was just too heavy and as he chased it down the Keeper came out to clear, but fortunately miss-kicked the clearance and Jonathan seized the chance to net his long awaited first goal of the season, putting us 1-4 up. Christchurch were now controlling the game, the defence now looking steady with Dan, Paul Sam & Jack C & Jack J winning balls confidently and passing up Stu & Callum in central mid who were spreading quality balls to Lewis & Jonathan upfront and supplying Brad & Miles on the wings, who were then using a good combination of speed and skills to gain ground and feed cross after cross into the box. A run from Miles down the right wing and then along the backline, saw him fire a ball low across the six yard box, which Jonathan connected with at the far post, to bag his second. This gave Jonathan a good confidence booster, as he started to chase down ball after ball, eager for a hatrick. Although Burton had now conceded 5 goals, they were still mounting attacks, with Finn making some good saves, one of which was an excellent diving save to his top left corner. From another Burton attack, Paul cleaned up and dribbled into midfield before playing in Miles up the middle, who went on to bury the ball in the back of the net. Brad was having a very good second half out on the left wing, winning tackles and running rings around players, making light work of turning his markers and crossing and switching balls. One of these crosses found Sam, who shot from just outside the box and netted well to join the score sheet. Just before full-time, Stuart got a slice of the pie, finding the back of the net to finish the game 1-8. A sluggish 1st half, followed by an excellent 2nd half, with a good display of both individual skills & team play.

Full-time: 1 - 8

Man of the Match – Bradley