MATCH REPORT – Saturday 31st August

report by Will Hargrove

L 2-1

HT – (1-1) Will Hargrove | FT – (1-2)

MOM: Noah Lavy

It seemed apt to be on the Olympic pitch whilst the Tokyo games are in full swing. This was a pretty good game played in a competitive but friendly atmosphere between two evenly matched sides. Wapping I think will feel they were worth their win and we felt we probably deserved a draw. The Wapping side took the lead about 15 minutes into the game with a bit of a scrambled goal. We came back 5 minutes later at a short corner with a zig zag between Hargrove and Noah Lavy that was tucked away by Hargrove. At the half we discussed ball pace (always difficult on this slow and sticky pitch) and being more precise. The next period of the game was a little cagey and tense. Willmott saw green for a frustrated response to a foot in the middle of the park. With about 1- to go Wapping managed a goal from a very tight angle that was deflected past Veysal. We pushed and pushed with Vivek and especially Noah Lavy looking incisive down the inside channels. A few more shorts and a few decent saves resulted. With 5 to go there was a downpour which seemed to further extinguish our efforts. We came up just short having had our chances.

The team – Veysal Demir, James Rushton, Brian Cade, Scott Ramsay, Jez Lavy and Rory Willmott all did well in defence on a pitch where distribution from the back can be an issue. The Midfield performed pretty well – Vivek Dongha, Will Hargrove and Noah Lavy –getting the ball forward at pace. Upfront the running from Cameron Clayton-Smith, Haimish Patel, Alastair Whatley was tireless and on another day we could have scored a few more. The game was well umpired and thank you to Mark Langley for making the trip! It’d be good to play them again…