Boars stumble vs. British Airways

Despite going a goal up in the first half, a poor second half display meant Eversley & California dropped points at Fox Lane on Saturday afternoon, being comfortably beaten 3-1 by British Airways.

Match Report by Ben Thomas

During the opening 15 minutes, the Boars were dominant in possession and therefore had the opportunity to create the better chances, but more often than not the final ball lacked quality. British Airways couldn’t fashion any clear cut opportunities in the opening exchanges, their lack of ball retention meant rushed counter attacks were the only route forward. Centrally based play proved unsuccessful but when the home side decided to switch it up in the 21st minute, a left sided cross from J. Pantony was missed by the away side’s centre back leading to C. Miller being positioned perfectly to slot the ball home from 6 yards out.

After this the away side began to get into the game slightly, but it was evident they were restricted throughout the half due to poor passing, losing possession various times to inaccurate passes and unforced errors. Attempting to force the ball forwards meant they hadn’t really created anything to trouble Eversley’s defence. This allowed the Boars to have a deserved 1-0 lead at the break, they had created many more big chances but still lacked quality a majority of the time – something that needed to be addressed during the interval.

In the second half British Airways came out looking like a completely different team, in the 47th minute a fast paced attack saw C. Baah split the central defenders with a through ball to A. Jones who dribbled past the Boars’ defence and powered a driven shot across the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner. The Boars were caught sleeping and paid the price, conceding an equaliser to make the game 1-1. Around 8 minutes later British Airways netted a second to go 2-1 up, a penalty given for handball was converted confidently into the top right hand corner by C. Edwin. The Boars were working hard, being first to 50/50s and ensuring to pressure the opposition but couldn’t push out of their own half – British Airways were retaining possession and creating many attacking opportunities.

Over the next 20 minutes the game became stretched, a lot of gaps in both midfield units appeared due to heavy legs. Eversley were still struggling to create anything significant in the final third but were controlling the game again despite a lack of purposeful passing. Against the run of play, the game was put to bed in the 73rd minute by BA FC, when a corner was headed home by unmarked S. Richards. This made the scoreline 3-1 and this remained the result until full-time despite some desperate last attempts to salvage a point by Eversley and California.

3-1 seemed a harsh result for the Boars, especially considering their first half performance, however after being caught sleeping twice in the opening 15 minutes the home side’s players heads dropped and they just never really got going after that. The football played throughout the game was scrappy from both sides but British Airways addressed their issues at the break of losing the ball too easily and came out to dominate the second half which they did. “It was like watching two completely separate sides play in the second half” said disappointed manager Ellis Woods. This was a frustrating result from the fans, players and management point of view but it is clear the team want to rectify this result and gain all three points in their next league match, a midweek away tie to Ash United.