Easton 3 Martham 2

With just 10 days left of the season we welcomed Martham to the college on a breezy night up at the college. There were changes to the squad once again as we were without Al, Aggy, Jahi and Baz for the fixture but were able to welcome back both James and Jordy Wheeler to the match day squad.

We started into the wind and could have scored before Martham had even touched the ball as Wheeler raced away down the right but his effort went wide of the far post as he went for goal. Martham started the game in their usual direct fashion as they looked to hit Patterson and Wilkinson early on most occasions. The visitors were however winning a lot of second balls in the early going which was giving them some joy.

After forcing a couple of early corners Martham did have the ball in the net in the opening 20 minutes but the effort was ruled out for a clear offside. They then went one closer when a thunderous strike from 30 yards was tipped onto the bar by Chris in the Easton goal. We were struggling to get any sort of momentum together in the early going but despite that another chance went begging as Raffa got to the byline and cut back to George but again the effort flashed the wrong side of the far post with the keeper beaten.

The opening goal of the night came on 30 minutes when a loose ball in midfield was seized upon by a Martham player and his slide rule ball found Patterson who fired home for 1-0 to the away side. One then became two as a break away down the right resulted in a cross that could and should have been dealt with but the ball found it's way through to hunt who took a touch and fired home to shock the Easton faithful and give us a mountain to climb.

There was still another chance to reduce the arrears before the half time whistle but a free header in a central position cleared the crossbar before the referee brought an end to one of the poorest halves of football we have produced in several months.

HT 0-2

The second half began in a much more positive fashion from an Easton point of view and we again should have had a goal in the opening minutes as Wheeler again got away down the right but again saw his effort fly wide of the far post when well placed. Martham were mainly pinned back in their half in the early running and Raffa, George and Morgs all had shots at goal but all were straight at the visiting keeper.

Morgs then raced away 1v1 and with the referee correctly overruling the assistant there was a nasty collision between the Easton forward and the keeper than meant Morgs was replaced on the hour mark by Ben and Wheeler made way for Rob as we switched shape to try and get back into the game.

With 15 minutes remaining there was a glimmer of hope as Martham failed to clear a corner and the loose ball fell to Beanie who poked home to give us a lifeline as again the Martham keeper took a tumble. Shortly after Chris's game also ended early due to injury which left an injured Morgs in goal and time ticking away.

It was beginning to feel like one of those days as the final whistle drew nearer but with 89 minutes played we won a free kick on the edge of the box and George's stunning effort found the top corner of the net as we raced to get the ball back to the half way line in search of a winner. With the injuries to both keepers the referee indicated 8 minutes of added time but it was Martham who were the first to threaten as they won a free kick in a dangerous area that Morgs did well to get down to save.

We were still throwing men forwards in search of an unlikely winner and after winning a throw in down in the far corner the ball was given back to Ian who beat his man to the byline and stood up a pin point cross into the area and out of nowhere Ben Cissell rose like the proverbial salmon and slammed his header home to spark wild celebrations both on the pitch and in the home dugout with less than a minute to play.

Martham frantically tried to get themselves back into a game that they had thrown away but the man in the middle brought the game to a close shortly after.

FT 3-2

Well, what can you say?! A torrid 45 minutes followed by 30 minutes where we did everything but score we certainly didn't expect three points with 15 minutes to play but they do say you make your own luck in football and sometimes winning a game in that fashion is better than a 5/6 nil walkover. Credit to Martham who came with a game plan that very nearly paid off. One more win needed from our final two games with Poringland.