Croydon F.C 2 vs 3 Chessington & Hook

Fresh from Saturdays opening day win, Glynn took his squad to Croydon for our first away league game of the year full of optimism.

The 28 man squad immediately coming into use with Gary Puckett still suspended, injuries to Mark Daniels and Malik Buari and the non availability of Leon Canning and Jason Massing meaning that no fewer than 4 changes had to be made from Saturdays line up.

The shape was changed with Glynn deploying a 4-4-2 system, with Dane Buss making his first competitive start after Saturdays substitute appearance, Andy Davidson partnering Lloyd Welsh in the centre of defence , Matty Ellis coming in at left back and Andrew Heath starting at Right back.

On a tight pitch the game could best be described as competitive, although questions could be raised about some of the tactics used by Croydon in stopping our attacking threat. In a largely scrappy opening, credit should be given to the players for not reacting to Croydons approach , concentrating entirely on trying to play. This was rewarded midway through the half with a sublime finish from Shane Graham who chipped the keeper from a full 30 yards when most were expecting him to take on his full back. Just 4 minutes later and during a torrential downpour the elusive Scott Todd was brought down in the box for an obvious penalty that he duly converted for 2 0 . Any hopes of a comfortable evening were again dashed, as our inability to be secure following scoring ourselves, was again our undoing as we gifted Croydons centre forward a goal that gave them fresh impetus. A booking for Andrew Heath who was marking possibly the quickest winger that we will play against was also a worry.

The way we started the second half looked like we were still in the dressing room as for 10 minutes we seemed unable to get out of our half , inviting unnecessary pressure onto our back line. We did however stay strong and despite Croydons pressure slowly regained the initiative, carving out the occasional chance. It was inevitable that Croydons approach would come back to haunt them and when a further foul on Todd was punished with a red card it was no surprise.

Gradually the extra man told and we added our third when Darren smith swept home a Reece Jackson cross .A further red card saw us have a 3 1 lead against 9 men with less than 10 minutes to play but bizarrely we still seemed nervous and unable to keep the ball. With 3 minutes remaining Croydon pulled a goal back and still had opportunities to equalise.

We did hang on though and despite the nerves we have 2 wins from 2 and can now look forward to an exciting FA Cup tie with Chertsey Town at Chalky Lane on Saturday.