Wars keep getting it done.

This week the Wars prepared for battle against Reigate Hill. The last game was abandoned after 12 minutes and we were hoping for a full 90 this time around. Reigate are a good team that normally let their temperament let them down, they are very physical and lose their rag very quickly.

We started the game very slowly and Reigate Hill obviously had a very different team out. It looked like they had at least 4 1st teamers players, boosting their ranks. We were getting involved but Reigate’s tails were up and they were winning most of the 50-50 balls. However we broke up front and the ball came to Dave Baker just outside their box. He hit a cracking shot and their keeper couldn’t hold it as it span over the line. So we had our noses in front but were not playing the better football. Reigate were hitting the ball over the top, which was really testing our defence. They had a couple of very good break through’s which brought good saves from the Wars keeper, Keith. So, after soaking up a lot of pressure we scraped into half time 1-0 up.

Going into the second half we had to refocus and really concentrate to maintain our lead, we needed an early goal to knock the stuffing out of Reigate. That didn’t happen! Unfortunately Reigate came out all guns blazing again and were really competing well. After 5 minutes Dave Cocksedge went down, obviously in a great deal of pain. He had turned over on his ankle and the fear was that it was broken. Reigate players reacted really well and helped us carry Dave off of the pitch while he waited for an ambulance. The battle then continued with Joe Shadenburg replacing Dave in the centre of midfield. Joe came on and worked really hard breaking up Reigate’s play.

As the game went on Reigate continued to apply pressure but our defence played well and didn’t give them many opportunities. Towards the end of the game Reigate had a great effort, which beat Keith, but the mighty Crunch ran back to clear off the line. Reigate were getting frustrated and with about 5 minutes to go their central defender said a bit too much to the ref and got a red card. We managed to see out the last few minutes of the game to win 1-0, a really valuable 3 points and a great team effort.

This wasn’t our best performance by a long way but we fought incredibly hard and didn’t give up. Our title challenge remains alive.

Man of the match. Cruncher – kept the team solid and put in another great performance.

Goals

Dave Baker 13
Pip Manning 9
Dersal Goktas 6

Mick Rolfe
"B" Team Manager