Old Whitgiftian AFC

From kick off, it was clear that Real Holmesdale were of a different calibre to teams we'd already met this season. They arrived early with a full squad and obviously knew each other well with a mixture of youth, experience and possibly one or two asbos (as the referee was later to find out). They were changed and out on the pitch before us (and we were early) and had a good warm-up.

From kick-off both teams meant business and gave little quarter when it came to tackles, space or time. Where they had the slight edge though, was that apart from in central midfield and defence, we were often (slightly) second to the 50/50 ball... not that we lacked the passion, but more the conviction of the tackle. Over the 90 minutes, this more than anything cost us the result and the reward of a second round tie.

Real Holmesdale scored the opener... another of those balls that bobbled around our area that we just couldn't get from under our feet and clear. The ball inevitably found one of their players who dispatched it low and hard into the back of the net. The worst thing was that it happened during our best spell of the game.

This meant that we were now chasing the game and started to push forward more. This in turn left a few more gaps and we were nearly punished soon after when the Holmesdale forward was presented with time and space to unleash a superb shot from close range that was more than equalled by a brilliant reaction save from Tim Hillier to put it over the bar.

Our next setback saw an injury to Christian Denison, which meant he had to be replaced by Jon Higgins, with a like for like swap at left back. It then took the defence and the rest of the team about 5 minutes to settle, gain confidence and realise they were still in the game.

Our equalizer came when we won a free kick midway through the half and deep in opposition territory. Leeward Hardy stepped up to take it on the left and crossed one of those balls that you just don't want to defend against and exactly in that area where keeper and defenders expect the other to deal with it. It was in this spot that Toby McNamara out jumped everyone else and headed it into the top corner to put us back on level terms.

The half was end to end to the whistle. The game had so far been incident free between two competitive sides. What was hard to understand was the constant abuse given to the referee by Holmesdale whenever a decision went against them. At one point one of their players said to me, "This ref is pants, is he one of yours?". "No," I replied, and I wouldn't want to ++++ him off if I was you." He should have listened as he was booked shortly afterwards for one berating too many. But, then again the whole team were at it and there were more cards to follow. Still, it's good to be reminded of why we play in the AFC every now and then.

The second half was more of the same. Lots of good end to end attacking football, with defence on both sides being more effective than the forwards and the midfield cancelling each other out.. but with us, if anything having the slight edge in this area.

Of the two goalkeepers, Tim was the more busy coming off his line to make a number of stops and blockages as he commanded his area well.

The second half was spoilt somewhat by the referee having to stop the game every now and then to speak with a Holmesdale player and this prevented any side from building up a rhythm.

The game was decided with 10 minutes to go as Holmesdale's fitness finally started to tell as the energy levels of our team ran down. Legs became heavy and the chasing back was not as committed as it had been previously. Their goal in the end was well taken, but preventable as we'd lost the ball in midfield during an attack and failed to cover the gaps. We had a chance to clear, but the shot when it came had Tim beaten.

Overall, a good game decided by a single goal. The cup had been a not unwelcome distraction, but we now need to concentrate on the league.