2nd Place Hopes All But Dashed

In isolation a point away to a good Witley Wanderers outfit would be a decent result, but dropping two points has in all reality left us to focus on finishing 3rd and trying to progress in the two Cup 1/4 finals we will face in April.

Our squad was stretched with some key players missing, but we still turned in a pretty good display on a tough pitch. Witley are a far stronger side than their League form suggests and their 9-0 loss to The Castle is deceptive as they only fielded 9 players that day.

It was clear early on that the game was going to be very tight and that we would have to grind out the victory.

After a first half we had the better of without creating much, we took the lead just short of the hour mark as Luca Mortellaro's corner was flicked home at the near post right footed by Alex Zammit. Zam's intelligent run was worthy of a goal.

We had two good chances to put the game beyond our hosts, but Charlie Elliott's left footed volley was cleared off the line and Luca was denied by a great save by their keeper low to his right hand side.

At the other end we were looking very comfortable as Witley struggled to create even a half chance of note, but with around 20 minutes to go we got a bit sloppy.

Instead of clearing our lines we tried to pass out from the back a few times too many and on the 3rd occasion we gave the ball away Witley probed down our left, cut the ball inside to their striker who's mis-hit shot forced Damian Lynch into action, but he could only parry the ball to their midfielder who tapped home.

Witley were happy with a point, but as we looked to get forward and earn the win we needed they became a threat on the counter.

That said the only real chances fell to us as Luca just failed to lift the ball over the keeper and then had a shot well saved by the keeper's feet.

It was a game of little incident, but I felt we created the chances and would have warranted a narrow win and it never looked in danger until we lost our focus.

This happens in Sunday League and our opponents took the chance that we presented to them.

Our effort cannot be faulted and overall I was content with the performance. A 1-0 win would have been nice, but ultimately even that might not have been enough for 2nd place.

All we can do now is go out and win our last game against Guildford Albion and hope for favours elsewhere.

We still have the Cups to play for and they now become our priority.

MoM - Baulds - near on faultless at centre back in a good defensive showing from us.

Thanks to Jay and Ads for running the line and best wishes to Tobes who looked to have suffered a bad ankle injury in the first half.