Old Whitgiftian AFC

STARTING LINE-UP
QUARTEY BLADES - HIGGINS - McDERMOTT - CLARKE C WARD - McNAMARA - JEWELL - DOLAN COBBETT (Cpt) - LAKHANI

Sub: Aitken

Captain Cobbett won the toss (I think) and Whits played the first half with the wind at their backs. The first half produced some good football from both sides with chances at both ends. Daniel Jewell forced an excellent save from the Sinjuns goalkeeper low down to his left with an excellent shot taken first time from the edge of the area. From set pieces, Toby McNamara was always a constant threat and he proved this again with two towering headers from corners swung in by the Paul Dolan, unluckily for Whits and Toby he was unable to find the target with either.

At the other end, the Whits defence was standing strong, limiting the Sinjuns attack to crosses, some offsides and not much else. A foul by Chris Clarke on the edge of the area saw a freekick flash by the far post and that was about that for the half.

The half time team talk highlighted the need to keep the ball and stay strong. It was already feeling like one of those games where taking your chances would be all important.

As it so happened the first goal came not to long into the second half. A drive through the middle saw a Sinjuns attacker one-on-one with keeper Quartey who made an excellent save only to see the ball end up in the back of the net of the boot of the unfortunate Blades who had chased back trying to clear his lines.

1-0

At 1-0 down the game was not lost, Whits had been the stronger attacking force but had failed to make their chances count. Pushing forward in numbers left Whits exposed at the back. A long ball from the midfield found a Sinjuns striker who was ushered onto the far touch line by McDermott. However (and I'm not quite sure how), the stirker managed to wriggle his way free of McDermott before merking another 2 players and cutting out the rest of the defence to pass to his strike partner for an easy tap into an open net.

2-0

Game lost? Well many teams would certainly crack at the this point but for some unbeknown reason it just made us come back stronger. Manager Fisher, made the tactical switch of changing from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2   and replacing Clarke with Aitken, with all the emphasis on attacking. Again Sinjuns counter attacked but the strikers attempted lob found the hand/head of Quartey and the score crucially remained 2-0. An excellent cross from the Whits left produced a defensive flick on which evaded Kiran Lakhani's head but went straight to the boot of Captain Cobbett only for him to put over the bar from 6 yards. No need to fear though as David Aitken played an excellent through ball for Cobbett to race onto, a Sinjuns defender (all credit too him) kept pace (well tried to) with Cobbett but then went to ground giving the striker the extra second to adjust onto his right foot and lift the ball beautiful into the far corner (thats's 5 in 3 games now).

2-1

5 minutes to go and game on!! Sinjuns were now committing the cardinal sin and sitting back as Whits sent forward attack after attack searching for the vital break-through which eventually came no more than 2 minutes from time. A panicked clearance on the left gave Whits a thrown to be taken by Aitken. He hurled a long throw into the box, it bounced once and Kiran Lakhani jumped highest to head in past the unrushing goalkeeper. An attempted clearance of the line by a desperate defender only helped to put the ball further over the line! Excellent contribution but Aitken, on a sub and to excellent assists.

2-2

What a fightback! Whits continued to push but could not find the winner they craved!!

All in all, an excellent come back against the wind and slightly up the hill but considering some of the football played, Whits would be disappointed to have dropped 2 points. All aboard the victory bus for a cup match at Fortress Croham next week.

ps - Teas were simple yet effective, sausage rolls and chips.