Craftmatic

4th Sept 2005: Friendly vs. Didcot

The final friendly before the League season started was against Didcot. The lads knew this would be a hard match as they lost to them in the final of the Wickham six a side Tournament but they were in for a big surprise.

Didcot kicked off and immediately dominated the game. Their slick passing and movement was a joy to see. With only 4 minutes gone the visitors had a corner on the right. This was swung into the box and suddenly two forwards were in front of goal, 2 yards out with the ball at their feet and no Wickham players near them; an easy tap in. Wickham never really recovered from this. The passing was poor with the control of the ball even worse. Oli replaced Jordan up front but the Wickham midfield were playing so deep that he was totally isolated. Wickham were having trouble clearing the ball from goal kicks as no one seemed to be willing to chase the ball down. In the 18th minute a kick from Jordan went straight to William but his control was poor, allowing the Didcot forward to take it away from him, race through on goal and eventually score. Right on half time a Wickham defensive throw-in was lost and immediately put into the box where two Didcot forwards were unmarked. Despite Jordan getting both hands to the drive it still went into the top corner.

Ian and John tried to rally the lads and get them to work for each other, pass the ball around and close the attackers down. Wickham lost the ball from the kick off but fortunately the shot which came in went wide. However, no one picked up Jordan's goal kick and the ball was drilled home for 4-0. This time the lads seemed to wake up a bit and they did start passing the ball around but Jack and Aiden were constantly getting caught out at the back. Aiden was replaced by Jordan who played the balance of the game at the back. With 8 minutes gone Wickham finally got on the score sheet as William put Josh and Oli away. Josh got the shot in which the keeper parried, but Oli was there to tuck the ball away. The lads were now playing much better but there was still lots of individual runs and shots taken instead of simple passes being made. They probably deserved to get at least one more goal but in the last two minutes they conceded 2 more to go down to a 6-1 defeat.

From a very disappointing result the Didcot manager did say "Although the result did not go for you, we were well treated and the match was played in exemplary spirit. Your boys never resorted to anything other than fair play so well done to them all".

The Player of the Day award went to Josh Way.

Jordan Shaw, Jack Bolton, Aiden Weeks, William Herrington, Karl Admans, Josh Way Jordan Burnett.
Sub:- Oli Sopp.