On Saturday the 15th March, Southgate Mens 2s successfully beat second placed London Edwardians Mens 1s, on away turf, to secure promotion into the East National League. Celebrations immediately followed… however the team really wanted to back-up the win on home turf, at Southgate, where we could share and enjoy celebrating with our families, friends and the rest of the club.
Our opposition, Tulse Hill and Dulwich Mens 1s were placed 6th in the league, with only 4 points separating them from bottom placed West Hampstead. With the relegation battle prominent in their minds, we knew this was going to be a very tight game.
Both teams started the game strongly. Southgate’s defence of Gibson, Fell, Shepherdson and Wickham looked solid and made it very difficult for Tulse Hill to progress into high attacking zones. Southgate kept the pressure high and after 10 minutes, Harry Haynes was able to gather the ball from a high lead and skilfully win a PC. Sim Bird came close to scoring, only foiled by an excellent save from the Tulse Hill keeper. At 20 minutes, Leo Garner won a second corner for Southgate, after he weaved his way past 3 players along the baseline, eventually being fouled in the circle to win the PC. This time, Drew Burkin flicked from the top, only missing the outside of the post by an inch.
Tulse Hill came very close to scoring from a PC, however the Gate PC defence, bossed by Akshay Palaniappan stood strong. Matty Allister, who was Southgate’s No1 runner, got out of the blocks faster that Colin Jackson to run down and block their first attempt. After a re-awarded PC, Andy Fell, positioned on the left post, put his body on the line and managed to deflect a Tulse Hill drag flick wide.
The half time score remained 0-0.
Pearce demanded more from Southgate at half-time and they did not disappoint. Energy from the midfield engine of Maunder, Hollett and Izzo ramped up several notches and passes were flowing though into the high attacking Southgate lines. The effective Southgate press started to force more and more Tulse Hill errors.
At 40 minutes, after a Tulse Hill turnover on the halfway line, Southgate executed a 7-pass phase of play to score the first goal of the game. Will Shepherdson started the move, finding Olly Izzo in the midfield, Izzo realising the transfer was on, moved the ball back to Will Gibson, Gibson transferred to Fell, and Fell with a one touch bunt, found Hollett at left back. Hollett (not wanting to be outdone by Fell) executed a beautiful one touch sweep up the line, to find a leading Haynes. Haynes gathered and delivered a delightful ball into the circle to find Matt Burgess, who was arriving at pace. Burgess expertly received and moved the ball towards Sim Bird, who was positioned in front of goal. Bird continued his excellent form, wrapping the ball around the keeper to score and put Southgate 1-0 up.
Southgate continued the mount pressure, McCrossan and Burkin worked tirelessly to force Tulse Hill errors and at 50 minutes Southgate scored their second and final goal of the game. Leo Garner made another great high lead, receiving the ball in the Tulse Hill circle, then immediately offloading a super ball backwards to Jonny Maunder. Maunder drifted past one defender and then using his special skill, found the foot of a second defender to win a PC. A rapid injection from Olly Wickham and ace trap by Fell (technically an assist) gave Maunder time at the top of the circle to execute a perfectly placed drag flick, which hit the right-side netting with some gas on it.
The game ended with a 2-0 win for Southgate M2s, which continues an impressive 15 game unbeaten run.
Winning the game was important, however on Saturday, it was very much secondary to being able to share the seasons success and celebrate with all our wonderful families, friends, squad and club members who have supported us this season, as they do every season, rain or shine, through the good and less so good.
