Report

Firstly, well done to all of the boys for sticking together for the whole of this difficult season. I am proud of the effort they have put in spite of the results, and today’s game was no exception. Larkfield arrived knowing that a point would secure them the League title. We had the bare 11 today was it was going to take a Herculean effort to prevent that. The early signs were not good as we conceded a soft goal within 4 minutes. But what followed was a real gutsy display. We soon got into our stride and started to impose ourselves. Good pressure in midfield saw the league leaders start to make mistakes and look quite rattled. A great ball from Henry released Charlie who coolly slotted home a deserved equaliser. We looked the more likely to score a second and only a great block from their ‘keeper’ prevented Henry from giving us a lead. A lapse in concentration cost us as we conceded a soft second goal from a corner. The game then turned against us as our skipper Rob suffered an injury, which meant he was unable to take any further part. We conceded a third shortly after this and with an hour still remaining it was effectively game over.

In spite of the man advantage we still pressed hard and in the second half Charlie came close on a couple of occasions. We were slowly picked off as we tired and the final score doesn’t do us credit. Congratulations to Larkfield for winning the league but in my view they blotted their copybook and showed little class and respect for our efforts when toward the end they allowed their ‘keeper’ to swap positions and play up front. Given that we were reduced to 10 men for such a long time it showed a real contempt to the effort that our boys had put in. real champions would conduct themselves differently, but maybe I am a bit old fashioned in trying to uphold certain values. I know what I would rather instil in my teams!