After 4 weeks with no game, you’d think a return to action would be eagerly awaited by the whole squad - but thanks to a mix of winter holidays and injuries, we headed to East Surrey with a whole host of absentees. It was most felt at the back with 3 regular centre backs missing, meaning ‘late 40s’ Chris stepped into the fray. We were also missing our 2 top scorers in Naz and Renay, so this was always going to be a game where we had to dig deep.
Fortunately, the opposition were equally short and actually started the game with 10, which we took advantage of when a flowing move started by Boorman saw the ball shifted to Joe, whose through ball was inch perfect to Shane, who still had plenty to do but his cross across the face was turned in by Shep.
We really should have stepped it up from there, but we allowed East Surrey possession and they grew into the game, claiming a shock equalizer minutes before they were up to the full 11. The rest of the half was pretty disappointing as we were neither aggressive in the tackle or good enough with the ball - and the normally imperious Phil gifted them the lead with a short back pass. The closest we came to an equaliser was from Isaac’s corner, which almost flew directly in.
The gaffer outlined what we needed to do, but within minutes we were 3-1 down when they broke quickly from our own corner and we failed to do the basics at the back. We introduced two debutants (of sorts) as Sonny returned to the club, alongside Ismael who was making his very first appearance. And they both made a difference as we were suddenly a lot more on the front foot - and Sonny was key in getting a goal back, playing in that man Shane again as it was a repeat of our opening, he teeing up Shep for a tap in.
Now it felt like we were the team in the ascendancy, but as the game drifted to its conclusion, we changed formation to get more up front and go a bit more direct. We kept knocking at the door until, in the last minute, we won a corner that saw Andrew go up. There was panic in the box and Andrew was hacked down, which should have been a pen if Danilo didn’t swipe the ball home anyway.
A 3-3 draw against a team we beat 6-2 earlier in the season isn’t exactly something to go mad about, but considering the numbers we were missing and the month without action, it was at least an unbeaten start to 2026.

GOALS: Shep Kwenda (2), Danilo Santo
MOTM: Shane Gyedu-Buadi