SANDY A 2 - 3 KINGS AFC

Saturday 7th October 2006

Line-up: Sansom, Fordham, Loosemore, Wilson, Crane, Tomlin, Brodier (Minty), Haywood (c), Morgan (Phil Hatton), Sacbuker (Evans), Milner

Half time score: 1-1

Goalscorers: Brodier, Haywood, Morgan

Booked: None

With Twinwood Thistle Reserves hearing of the quality of Kings AFC they quickly exited the league, not wanting to be embarrassed. So Kings had a last minute fixture change to play Sandy ‘A’, a team they had already played and beaten well at the beginning of the season.

Kings went into the game on the back of a well fought win in the cup match last week and were feeling confident of another victory based on the result from the two teams’ previous meeting. The line up saw a welcomed return for Sansom between the sticks and the back four made up of Fordham, Crane, Wilson and Loosemore, the midfield had a slight change to it with Sacbuker and Milner playing along side each other for the first time the left wing was taken-up by the impressive Tomlin and the right wing adopted by Brodier. The attacking pair was made up of Morgan and Captain Haywood returning to a forward role, despite his recent exploits in midfield.

The match began well for Kings with a healthy amount of possession and some good football, neat passing that had come straight from the training ground. After a few successive corners the first goal finally arrived, the ball spilled out to the edge of the box and Brodier was on-hand to strike the ball back fiercely through a crowd of players and into the back of the net, 1-0 Kings. A great strike from the recently named September ‘Player of the Month’.

This goal helped to settle a few nerves but maybe made the Kings a little too relaxed, players started to decline in their work rate and missed passes were happening a little too often, seen especially at a few critical times at the back, letting the hungry Sandy forwards a chance to bite.

Sandy tried hard to get back into the game and were rewarded with a corner halfway into the first half, the ball came in quickly and was latched onto by the Sandy captain, with his massive height he powered away from his marker Crane for 1-1.

This goal did little too spark the Kings’ back to life with a few heads going down and passes still not finding their target, after a miss-placed pass by Loosemore one Sandy player pounced and ran with the ball and took it all the way before he had a pop on goal, it was surely going in, down low and into the corner but Sansom was present and dived well to make a spectacular save!

The half ended with Kings starting to display an element of control again. With efforts from Morgan, Brodier and Tomlin but none which troubled the Sandy custodian. Indeed Marcus scored after a delightful through-ball from Milner only to see the offside flag raised. A frustrating last 5 minutes as Kings.

The half ended on level terms, one a-piece.

Gaffer Steve talked his side through at half time, asking for more of the type of play seen in the first 10-15 minutes than the remaining 30 and also calling for a bit more bite, letting the opposition know the Kings can’t be walked all over. The Kings were making an ordinary team look better then they were, with some lackadaisical passing and positioning.

The half time talk seemed to work with the players straight away getting stuck in and winning the ball. Passing and good movement off the ball was also looking better for the beginning of the second half, with this improved play it didn’t take long for the Kings to stretch back out in front. A classic bit of quick thinking by Morgan after a Loosemore throw allowed Tomlin to burst forward and get in a ball to Haywood who put the ball away. This was followed by another drop in the level of performance; it seemed they struggled to maintain a level of play after going ahead. More pressure allowed Sandy a few glimpses at goal but none of their attempts came to any real threat for the Kings.

Time for the Gaffer to change it up by making his first sub; Evans taking place of Sacbuker, who still looks short of match fitness, Evans went to join Morgan in the front line while Haywood stepped back into a midfield role.

After a relatively uneventful spell for the Kings, save for the hard work of Tomlin who had seemed to wake up after a quiet first half, another bit of good interplay down the left brought about an opportunity for Morgan who placed a well timed strike into the back of the net, no one was more pleased than Morgan who celebrated ending his mini-goal drought by horrifying onlookers by revealing ample stomach! Thankfully no one fainted at the sight and he didn’t get booked for his indecent exposure.

This prompted the Gaffer to make his other two substitutions, Hatton replacing Morgan and Minty taking the place of Brodier on the right. Both players coming on had impressed during last week’s training session and were keen to make an impact. Hatton took up his duty at left wing allowing Tomlin to venture forward and join Evans up front. The Kings continued to battle although they did sit comfortably ahead by two goals, maybe too comfortably as they invited more and more pressure. Not helped by the slope and wind which they were fighting against.

Sandy were abusing the long ball tactic which prevented the Kings midfield from really getting their foot on the ball.

The 89th minute saw disaster for Kings as another long ball found its way to a Sandy striker who lost his marker and dinked the ball over the onrushing Sansom. A well taken goal, which maybe could have been prevented but it wasn’t long until the final whistle and Kings had won their 5th game in the league to date.

It can be said that at times there is a need to grind out results, and today was certainly one of those occasions. A decent performance but nothing outstanding, improvement has to be made to keep the winning form going.

Final score Sandy ‘A’ 2 Kings AFC 3

Kings AFC Press Team

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