Old Whitgiftian AFC

Despite starting the day with 13 players, we started the match with the bare 11 due to an illness and a no-show. As both absentees formed the heart of our defence, it meant a major re-shuffle and a number of players out of position. What would have been a very powerful midfield partnership of Chris Stafford-Hill and Peter Biggs (making his long-awaited Club debut), was nullified as we had to draw on Chris's expertise in defence.

We also lost the toss, meaning that we had to defend the first half at the bottom of the hill with a very low sun to add to our problems.

View photos from this match		Photos supplied by Nixie & Alex Isthikhar

However, we knew their tactics well (Rout-one-Reigate is a stigma they've had for a number of years) and prepared for them to defend high up the pitch and to hit it long every time it came near, hoping that the ball would land near to a couple of fastish forwards to try to get on to. Our tactics had been to defend stoutly, but to get the ball down early, pass the ball around and use the dribbling skills of the Richards on the wings to get behind their defence.

This never really happened in the first half as an early injury to Alex Isthikhar meant that Richard Sturdy was dragged more and more into a defensive role.

Their first goal when it came was a mix-up in defence when a failure to clear the ball saw Reigate's forward sneak in to snatch the lead.

With Alex unable to continue, I made my outfield debut for the Club and at only 1-0 with us now having the slope in our favour, the game was still winable.

But it wasn't to be... depite having loads of possession and being a bit grittier in our play, we failed to make the inroads needed to win. Often it was our first touch that let us down, but perhaps most disappointing was the passing that rarely seemed to get beyond two before we lost it.

Having already switched to 3-5-2, Chris Stafford-Hill was forced to push forward more as the clock ran down. This inevitably left gaps at the back, which Reigate were able to exploit as our attacks broke down. Adam Love and Christian Denison defended like demons at times and were often outnumbered and when they did get through, Tim Hillier pulled off a number of fine one-on-one saves. It couldn't last though and we finally conceded a second with about 15 minutes remaining. 2-0 Reigate.

Our consolation goal came shortly before the end, when Richard Sturdy scored with a fine across-goal shot that the keeper saw but had no time to react to it. 2-1 Reigate.