The London Wayfarers Men’s 1st XI captain Siôn Owen gives this match report from the weekend’s game away to big rivals London Edwardians.
A sunny Saturday morning saw the Men’s 1s travel away to Honor Oak to take on local rivals London Edwardians. London Wayfarers sat third in the league going into the fixture, but a tightly packed table meant that just three points separated the next seven teams.
The team started brightly and put in a dominant first 15 minutes, transferring the ball effectively and threatening the Edwardians back line down the flanks.
A sustained period of pressure saw too little outcome in the D with no short corners registered and the opposition goalkeeper being untested.
Eds slowly grew into the half and some nice interplay down the wings meant that the pressure soon turned on to Wayfs, conceding a number of short corners which were defended well.
However, an unfortunate deflection in the middle of the pitch would prove the breakthrough. A speculative long ball fell perfectly to Ed’s centre forward who rounded the keeper and finished smartly to give the hosts the lead. 1-0 Eds.
Under the cosh, Wayfarers started to make too many errors. Some strong tackling from Eds in the centre of the pitch led to a turnover and subsequent overlap, the ball again falling slightly fortunately to a free man on the top of the D and another goal being taken well. 2-0 Eds.
Despite some good hockey, Wayfs needed half time to regroup and devise a comeback plan.
After some stern words of encouragement, Wayfs again started the half positively and were taking the game to the hosts. Some robust challenges were not to the umpires’ taste and Wayfs were reduced to 10 men for much of the second half.
Despite this, Wayfs continued to apply pressure and Eds were happy to sit in and absorb. A well-won short corner resulted in Alex Penney neatly dispatching a drag flick low into the right corner. 2-1 Eds.
Some excellent saves by the hosts’ keeper meant that unfortunately another goal could not be found despite some excellent play into the Eds’ D. In the end, Eds managed to hold on and were happy to hear the final whistle. Final score 2-1 Eds.
Onwards and upwards! Next week sees the team take on top of the table Spencer in another local derby, 2pm push back at Kennington Park. All support welcome!
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