On a lovely Sunday morning we played on the rolling hills of Stoughton's field, a pitch that looked like it had better grass coverage than usual, but turned out to be as uneven as ever.
We played an excellent first half, with Stoughton pinned into their side of the field, and the defence (Mike O, Kirk G, Tom, Mike A, Pap, Antonio) doing sterling work when called upon. Mike did have to make one good save, diving at the feet of a Stoughton player to block a shot mid-way through the half.
Our first good chance came from a free kick, when Abdullah drilled in a shot from 25 yards, but the keeper had seen it coming and was right behind the ball. Mike A set Ivan free down the right and Andy met his low cross at the top of the box, only to see his shot ricochet off a defender and fly wide. Kirk hit a high diagonal ball in from the right that went over the keeper and bounced up into the roof of the net, but was disallowed for offside.
As in the Medfield game, we couldn't capitalise on our pressure, and it took an own goal to open our account. Andy popped in a free kick from the right and the Stoughton sweeper, who normally plays in a forward position, directed a lovely header past the despairing dive of his keeper and into the bottom of the net.
There was some nervousness at the start of the second as Stoughton's sweeper moved into his more usual position harassing the defence. For a while Stoughton were putting us under pressure: it was almost as if they had an extra player on the field - which, after Samuel made a quick head-count, it turned out they did. But it was a set-piece that led to their goal: a free kick floated from the right to the back post eluded everyone except the Stoughton player who got a weak touch that was just enough to drop the ball over the line.
We responded magnificently, and a flowing move led to us taking the lead again. The ball was worked quickly from deep inside our half on the left up to Pedro on the right, and he got to the byeline and fed a pinpoint pass for the advancing Chris to slot between keeper and defender and into the net.
As the half continued the field opened up and Kirk, sitting quite deep, was able to distribute the ball to the wings (when the Stoughton number 15 wasn't hanging off his shoulders). Pedro waited at the back post to dive at a cross from the right, but managed to put the ball wide with the goal gaping. Another cross from the right caused confusion (in both teams) and a number of players (remaining nameless to protect the guilty), took a swing at the ball before it fell to Andy who managed to score from a couple of yards out with a scuffed shot.
Stoughton's keeper was being worked hard, and he made a couple of saves in quick succession, first blocking a shot then hoisting himself off the ground to palm away Eric's shot for a corner. He was beaten by Chris's 20 yard drive, but the ball clipped the top of the crossbar and went over. With fifteen minutes left Abdullah received the ball in a position that looked suspiciously offside, but he played the whistle and advanced on the keeper, rounding him and slotting into an empty net.
Squad: Mike O, Kirk G, Tom, Pap, Mike A, Antonio, Kirk N, Andy, Karsten, Chris, Ivan, Eric, Steve S, Abdullah, Pedro, Steve G
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