10 Man WWFC See Off Witley

WWFC welcomed back a few faces after missing no fewer than 12 players in that aggravating loss. Chris Bishop was today's only debutant, but Andy Harwood and Tom Fraser also made their returns to the squad.

We started brightly again, but this time took advantage of our superiority, taking the lead inside 10 minutes. Harwood swung over a fine corner from the right and new boy Rory McCarron stooped to head back across the keeper and into the top corner. It was a well taken first goal for the club for Rory, but it was to be a game of very mixed feelings for the midfielder.

The Whites looked good with the ball on the deck. Both wingers, Sam Pike and Nick Rogers were getting in behind the Witley defence at will.

However the next goal went to the home side and from our point of view it was a very disappointing goal to concede. A simple floated corner was too much for our static defence as we failed to deal with two headers, the second of which beating Gerry Savarino in goal.

Our response to this setback was emphatic. Immediately we got on the front foot after Lorenzo Favata's pressing won us possession. Pike and Paul Coward exchanged passes that saw Pikeo hit the byline. His super cross was met by a great header by debutant Bishop who nodded into the near corner. This was a splendid goal, which really showed what we are capable of when we let the ball do the work.

We always looked a threat, but as the half wore on we got a bit sloppy, continually giving the ball back to Witley with hoofs and this lead to a fair bit of pressure on our backline. A long range shot clipped the top of the crossbar, but we managed to see it through to half time ahead.

Into the second half and we started to pass it around again and looked by far the better side. Then Rory, who had grown frustrated by a series of fouls against him that were not given by the referee, who shall we say had an incredibly 'indifferent' game, vented his anger in a conversation with myself on the touchline. Unfortunately the referee heard Ror's criticism of him and brandished a harsh red card.

With 35 minutes to go, WWFC knew they were going to have their backs against the walls, but for the next 20 minutes we held our own fairly comfortably really, even looking dangerous on the break.

The last 10 minutes Witley did begin to crank the pressure up and Gerry made a couple of good stops in goal, one in particular was of a high quality.

At the other end, Pikeo's pace saw him race through the Witley backline only to be denied by a good smothering save by their big keeper and some foolish substitute also managed to pass up a glaring opportunity with a frankly horrible effort (don't know who he was, but he was clearly a twat of the highest order).

N-Rog gave away a late free kick which lead to a scramble, but when the shot went over, the game was won.

This was a fantastic win for us, against the odds really. Defensively we put in a huge performance in the second half. Gerry made some fine stops, Silvio and Malcolm stood incredibly firm and Lorry and Chriso were very solid at full back. In midfield Andy worked hard throughout and Bishy scored the winning goal. Rory made an ample contribution before his game was cut short, while the wingers never gave their defence any respite. Paulo put in a brilliant shift up front for 65 minutes, when he was replaced by Frase who worked his socks off.

Make no mistake though, we were not bombarded when down to 10 men. We thoroughly deserved this win and should be proud of it and take a real positive attitude into next week.

Looking at the league table after this week's results, I'd say we are in a very open Division this season. Only one team has a 100% record after 2 games and only 2 teams have lost both. Points will be dropped by all teams which makes for an exciting campaign. I'm confident we can be in the mix.

TRIFFIC - Pikeo's all round display was capped off by his top class assist for the winner.

CYGAN - Some D******D for some rubbish shot. Who really cares?

Thankyou to Dan and Matt for running the line and to Matt in particular for making the hour trip to be in the squad without getting on the park.