SWTFC Weekly Roundup: A thrashing…

 

The pitch at Catons Lane was in good condition for the visit of Buckhurst Hill despite the poor weather

Will keep it shorter than usual this week – it’s never nice to have to report on your team after losing, especially a heavy defeat.

I know a lot of the Walden boys read these reports (thanks by the way), they will no doubt be hurting after yesterday… we all know we can play better; I have no doubt this was just a blip – we’re all confident in your abilities. You don’t go two months unbeaten in a difficult league like this if you’re not a top team. Dust yourselves down and go again starting fresh next week.

Onto the match itself against Buckhurst Hill at the Lane – I was expecting a bigger crowd after our brilliant late victory in the Vase the week before but it did feel quiet, a few people choosing to stay indoors given the horrible weather we had the previous day and on the morning of the match. The starting XI was the same as the Vase game against March, bar the suspended Jordy Gent having to sit out, and Sal Nassor was unavailable – in came Ryan Auger and Sam Deering to the XI.

We started OK, without really testing the Stags’ keeper. Our best chance fell to Toby Salmon after Sammy had kept the ball alive well following a set piece, but Toby’s header was straight at the keeper.

Buckhurst Hill took the lead when a speculative long shot from Callum Maltese was too hot for George Coton to handle, with the ball dipping under the crossbar, and Tyler Dolan made it two shortly after with a good strike from the edge of the area.

Those two goals seemed to have knocked us for six, Buckhurst Hill were first to every second ball and were not afraid to have shots from distance. Given the wet conditions, it was definitely worth having those long shots as they are a nightmare for keepers to save. That was the case for the third goal as George got down well to save, but we didn’t react and Arthur Massingham made it three – his fourth goal against Walden this year having bagged three in two games as an Athletic Newham player earlier this season.

And the match was effectively over when Dolan scored – another rebound – on the stroke of half-time to leave us on course for our worst defeat since Great Wakering away at the start of September.

We came out and played better in the second half, but Buckhurst continued to play to their strengths and Harry Lusher scored a fifth with 55 on the clock.

The game sort of fizzled out from there, and barring Sammy hitting the crossbar twice in a matter of seconds at the end of the half, nothing really happened in a match to forget.

A really tricky away test to Woodford awaits on Friday – though we will have a couple of players returning and we know we can get results against these teams – look at the result against SOUL Tower Hamlets from a few weeks ago. Let’s file this one under “forget this ever happened”.

As always, Up the Bloods.