Away vs Kidbrooke Knights 5Nov23

Match report by Ciaran Larkin.
After 2 losses on the bounce to BPR and Slade Green, we needed to turn our fortune around if we wanted to keep pace with the top of the league and not fall behind. This week we went up against Kidbrooke; the side who we faced in our opening game of the season and beat 7-1, yet they only had 10 available that day, and they were certainly not a pushover, so we really needed to focus to get back our momentum and resurrect a serious title challenge on our behalf.

The game kicked off and Kidbrooke seemed intent on playing the ball out from the back and getting it down the line. They tried this throughout the game, so we knew what they were going to do. Their first goal came from that exact phase, getting it down the line and running with it. The ball was loose in the box and Romeo came out to clear it, yet it hit the defenders outstretched arm and bounced in. However, the referee did not see the clear handball and gave the goal, which was met with questions from Romeo, yet the ref was firm in his decision, so we had to deal with it. We carried on getting more chances and the equaliser finally came through Jude when a ball up the pitch found Arthur who laid it off to Jude who took it round about 3 players before slotting it past the keeper for our equaliser. We went into half time 1-1 all square with Kidbrooke. We knew what we had to do in order to improve and if we wanted to get a result. The second half started and we were a lot stronger in the tackle than in the first, but still no side was able to find a breakthrough early on. The game progressed and we finally got our breakthrough as Jude’s corner found Harry who gave us a lead, but it only lasted a couple of minutes when their left winger found the ball near the edge of the box on the left hand side and fired into the bottom corner to give Kidbrooke a quick equaliser. The game was tightly fought as both sides were generating opportunities but no real goal-threatening chances, and looked like it was heading for an even split of the points, until we had a throw on the left in the last minute, it went to Harley who controlled it a flicked it over his head in a not-quite bicycle kick, but it went over the keeper and into the bottom corner to give us a last minute winner in a tough fought game against a good side. Well played to everyone and a special mention to our man of the match Harley. We go again next week against Dulwich Village Orange.