Hanworth Villa vs Chessington & Hook

To be fair the recent schedule was likely to catch up with us at some point, but the manner of the first half showing pushed the excuse of tiredness to a new level.

With our hosts keen to build on their own midweek victory they started brightly, and a combination of this and our inability to defend properly saw us under pressure from the off. A series of misplaced headers and clearances at the back went unpunished but we were an accident waiting to happen.

On fifteen minutes a ball into the box that Puckett would deal with ninety nine times out of a hundred somehow evaded his foot and allowed the striker to tap home unchallenged for the opener.

Lessons were not learned and just nine minutes later we were two down. Unable to get near to our opponents they played some neat football to release their wide player whose cross was spectacularly volleyed home. Although we regrouped we created just one meaningful attempt in the half that falling to Smith whose side foot effort just missed the target.

At the break the only crumb of comfort was that we just about were still in a game that could have been long gone.
The higher tempo of our second half play seemed to suggest that words were had during the interval and gradually we came into the game. A half chance for Reece Jackson the first opportunity to come our way after the restart, his effort being well saved by the home keeper. As we entered the last half hour the game took the shape of a training exercise, our attack versus their defence, although the number of clear chances we created were few and far between.

George Baldocks introduction seemed to rally the players around him and his fresh legs were causing Hanworth problems. With the clock ticking down we nearly reduced the deficit when a Cheadle header came back of the post but it wasn’t to be. The afternoon in fact getting worse with the dismissal of Reece Jackson presumably for something he said following a savage challenge on West that went unpunished.