THE HARD WAY

Its the title of a brilliant Jack Reacher novel but also a good description of how we are going about this season. Conceding in the first and the last minutes, flukey goals, oh what I would give for a stress-free 2-0 victory!

This match was another not good for the nerves. We should have wrapped it up long before our opponents equalised deep in to the game. And then penalties and step forward our hero, David Saunders. David made two fines penalty saves and our four shooters were unnervingly accurate and so we progress into the next round.

We started brightly but were rocked back when Long Buckby scored after 10 minutes. David punched away a cross but it fell nicely to the opposition captain who floated the ball into the net. David made the first of several good saves when pushing away a deflected shot in the 15th minutes.

A mazy dribble by Cameron Brookes led to the equaliser after 33 minutes which was nudged into the net by Manny Gbejuade it was well deserved as we had already spurned a few good chances of our own.

We started the second half poorly and Long Buckby were in the ascendency but a Tommy Twelves special after 60 looked to have won it for us. It was a cracking, curling 25 yarder, finishing off a delightful team move. We then went hunting for the third, killer goal, gaining a one man advantage when the opposition centre forward was sin binned for dissent. George Carberry smacked one against the post, Cameron fired over, chances went begging.

A sense of dread came over the writer as we showed signs of tiredness and also a lack of footballing nous in the dying minutes keep the ball for goodness sake!

True enough the equaliser came after 88 minutes. David had made a flying parry and pushed the ball away but we didnt clear and a shot came in from the edge of the box which flew in to the net. We still had a chance to settle the match in 90, when Chris Blunden hit the post but equally David had to make a final save to keep us in the match.

And so to penalties which went our way from the first of those which David saved. He made another save and then Frankie Hercules finished it all off with our fourth successful spot kick.

Well done lads, a hard fought victory achieved through a fighting spirit and a strong team ethic. We need to improve our approach play in the final third and the quality of our dead ball kicks but then every club in the land is probably feeling the same.

Team:

David Saunders, Ben Johnson, James Ferguson, Scott Bonner, Adam Sawyer, George Carberry, Evans Lamboh, Tommy Twelves, Emmanuel Gbejuade, Chris Blunden, Cameron Brooks

Playing subs: Tom Shaw, Frankie Hercules,

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