Sunday 18th October 2009 - Wanborough Juniors (H)

'la vengeance se mange très-bien froide' (see below) as the French would have said!

This match was an early opportunity to show Wanborough what we are really made of after their 7 – 0 demolition job of two weeks ago and boy did the lads take it!

With Scott and Ben restored to the line –up, Bassett had a much more solid look to them from the off and our visitors soon got a taste of things to come as Dec and Coxy started to show some forward magic from the kick-off. Wanborough started to work their stuff and then, Wham!, a breakout from Bassett saw the ball sent out to Coxy who sliced it home from well outside the area: 1 – 0

Rocked back by this, Wanborough seemed to take a while to get in their stride and, despite showing some great individual moments of skill were unable to trouble our defence. Scott was at his best today, making strong interceptions and Harry began to build on the great performance of last week. Isaac got in some early saves and Matt did what he does best – buzzing round the opposing forwards like an annoying wasp. James, the newest member of the defence was equally effective, making numerous challenges and clearing the ball well.

Wanborough piled on the pressure for several minutes and it was very much against the run of play when, once again, the ball was launched out to the right and picked up by Coxy. He looked to have taken it too far, but much to the goalie's surprise, slammed the ball home from an acute angle to double the lead: 2 – 0

Ben's arrival from the bench caused Wanborough more worry, with his tricky dribbling and battling for the ball and it was just reward when the ball broke to him on the edge of the area and he slotted it past a despairing opposition 'keeper.: 3 – 0

Isaac then made a beautiful save from a strong Wanborough attack and it began to look as if they would never manage to score. But score they did moments later when a skilful turn in the box ended with the ball nestling in Isaac's net: 3 – 1

Half-Time: 3 – 1

Wanborough had time to re-group in the interval and started the second half the stronger team. It wasn't long before a rare defensive mix-up and failure to clear, led to another Wanborough goal: 3 – 2

With memories of the last match looming large, this could have been a time for Bassett to start to crack, but not today. We came at them again and again, Bailey now on up front looking to open his account and Dec Cox working delightful passes with Ben , George and Dec Coffey. George had been relatively quiet up front today, spending much valuable time tracking back to help the defence, but he snatched a poacher's goal after a Cox shot was not held by the 'keeper. Taking it wide at first, he managed a shot through the eye of a needle to notch his third of the season: 4 – 2

This was the turning point, and the Wanborough lads seem to drop their heads somewhat. They have some strong and skilful players, but this was not their day.

Their goalie will want to forget our 5th goal. A re-taken goal kick was sent straight to Coxy who calmly slotted home to notch his first hat-trick of the season: 5 – 2

Bassett love to live dangerously, however, and a skewed defensive clearance sent towards Isaac managed to evade him and Wanborough were gifted a third goal: 5 – 3

An own goal didn't trouble us this week, though, and shortly after, a beautiful pass from Ben found Coxy steaming into the penalty area and he slammed home his 4th and Bassett's 6th to send us into the next round with a flourish.

This was a great game to watch and it is a credit to the lads today that they not only turned the tables on their opposition just two weeks after being thrashed, but managed a thrashing of their own combining strong tackling, great passing and clinical finishing with a team spirit to be proud of.

Man of the match: Again, many contenders and it was left to our opposition to choose. Isaac was the fitting recipient having suffered the pain of picking the ball out of his net 7 times in the last encounter, he was the foundation on which we built the victory today. Two wins out of two – this could be the start of something!

'la vengeance se mange très-bien froide' = 'revenge is a dish best eaten cold'

Last modified on Monday 22nd June 2015 at 23:39