Catholic Utd 1st 4 - 3 Leigh Town Sunday 1st
Another pre-season game under the belt for our Sunday 1sts - plenty of positives but narrowly losing to the more clinical and cohesive Catholic Utd 1st.
In the continued heat, we came out of the block very well, going 1-0 up early on after a towering header from the midfield general T. Our quick passing and high press caused the opposition huge problems, and with better finishing (or luck) we could have been 3 or 4 up before the first drinks break. Catholic came back out and fought hard though, playing better football with their extra man in midfield, and caused us increasing problems before equalising and then taking the lead, with us conceding twice from sloppy defensive play from our admittedly makeshift defence. Another good goal put them firmly in control with a 3-1 scoreline, which certainly changed the tone of the half-time team talk!
We got back into our stride in the second half and started to dominate proceedings with great attacking football and a much more assured defensive performance, clawing one back with a great finish by Mason (and a quality assist from T) and looking the more dangerous team. We were the undone by some overplaying and Catholic regained control with a good finish on the counter attack, but we then piled on the pressure for the rest of the game with Theo and Ben both coming close before Matt classily finishing from Ryan’s corner delivery to set up a tense finish. We still can’t quite believe we didn’t get the leveller, with 2 or 3 great chances late on, but it wasn’t to be.
As much as we loathe any defeat, we’re pretty happy with the teamwork and effort out there today, with some quality football against a very good opponent who we have to give credit to…we can’t wait for a rematch though as the raft of new additions continue to settle in and improve with every game. Standout performance from the big man T, bossing it out there and terrifying people when he was hunting them down in the midfield.
Next up we’re away at South Woodham Ferrers Utd, ready to build on the improved performance and get back to our typical winning ways!
#UpTheTown
