Our first cup game of the season was against Petts Wood, a side who we will face twice more this season as they are in our division. This week we had 2 new faces as both Ted and Daniel signed for us, unfortunately Jai was not registered in time for our game. Today’s opponents Petts Woods were a bigger and older side than us, but it would still make for an interesting game, as we have been trialling a new formation for the last few weeks, switching to a 4-2-3-1 instead of a flat 4-5-1. The game started and we kept to our idea of trying to play out from the back and getting in a couple of times but not finding the space to score or get the final pass across. But we did find the back of the net following sustained pressure, as Matt’s 30-yard attempt cannoned off the bar and off the keepers’ head and in. It wasn’t the prettiest of goals, but it gave us the lead, which was the most important part. Soon our lead was doubled, as the keeper made the mistake of passing the ball to Dan, who scored his first goal of the season to double the lead. Going into halftime with a 2-0 lead gave us confidence that we will get our first win of the season.

The second half started a bit smoother as we got forward a lot better and more frequent, and all that was missing was the goal. The game then got a bit bumpy following a challenge by Adam that seemed a certain red, but only a yellow was given. Soon, we did score a third as Alex’s clearance looped all the way over the keeper, and in. Daniel, one of our newer faces scored with literally his first touch of the game to make it 4-0. And made it 5-0 later on with about 5 minutes left after intercepting the keeper’s attempt to play out from the back. Overall, a good win for us, and we go to the next round of the cup following this. We however don’t have a game this weekend as our opponents have another game to play, meaning we don’t play for a couple of weeks, but this does give us time to focus on our shape.

Match report by Ciaran Larkin.