Old Whitgiftian AFC

1st HALF LINE-UP
NIXIE FERGUSON R - KENYON - FEEHILLY - HANDY SHKEMBI - TEGG (Capt) - ISTHIKHAR - STURDY PHAN - FERGUSON M

In the absence of Chris Stafford-Hill, the captain's armband was handed over this week to Robin Tegg.

Against the run of play, Credit Suisse scored an opportunist goal late in the first half. We were at fault only in that we hesitated when the attacker had the ball instead of closing him down and this gave him an opportunity and the time to make a decision, and the space in which to make an accurate pass to a player in a better position who slotted the ball home.

View photos from this match	CLICK HERE	Photos supplied by DEAN MOSS

Both teams attacked and defended in turn, conceding a lot of space down the flanks, but very little in the middle. When we wanted to build up our play, we did well, but let ourselves down in the final third where that final through-ball just didn't materialise.

Apart from the goal, neither keeper was under undue pressure and both sets of forwards were reluctant to test them with anything other than tame shots.

2nd HALF LINE-UP
NIXIE FERGUSON R - KENYON - FEEHILLY - HANDY SHKEMBI (Sub MOSS 55) - TEGG (Capt) - ISTHIKHAR - STURDY PHAN - FERGUSON M

The first 10 minutes of the second half saw Credit Suisse go up an gear. The pressure was intensified, but due to some resilient defending their chances were kept to an absolute minimum. Slowly but surely we got back into the game, but it was obvious that our current shape and approach was not going to yield a result.

The worst part of the game then followed, when areas of the team "lost it" and started to moan at the referee instead of concentrating on their game. To be fair, the referee was making a lot of strange decisions against us, but our case certanly wasn't helped by the way we reacted to them.

On about 65 minutes, it was clear that something needed to be changed if we were to get back into the game, so I changed the system; moving a player out of defence into the attack. This gave us a lot more possession and allowed us to press home our attacks more, but left us more vulnerable to the counter-attack. In reality, we just couldn't unlock their defence and the nearest we came was when Dean Moss forced the keeper into tipping his shot over the bar.

Between the 70th and 75th minute, CS decided the game. The routine they had practiced for the previous few corners of aiming for the guy at the front post finally paid off, when at the second attempt of a corner (the first having been knocked off the line at the near post by Richard Ferguson) their player deftly flicked it into the top far corner of the net.

After this, 2 quick goals followed. The 3rd should have been beaten away, but was allowed to bounce across the box instead and the 4th was a schoolboy error, when we failed to close in on the striker, allowing him time to tee up his shot and stick it in the corner. Game over.