Tonbridge Invicta Under 16's v Hamsey Rangers

NARROW DEFEAT

TONBRIDGE INVICTA 0 HAMSEY RANGERS 1

16.02.03

A poorly defended corner led to the only goal of this close, physical encounter and undeservedly gave us our first home loss of the season.

The opening exchanges were fairly even until we got a grip on midfield about 10 minutes in. For the next 25 minutes or so we were clearly the better side and created a number of openings which we should have put away. The offside flag seemed heavily weighted against us as well. No small wonder that Hamsey could not believe their luck and grew in confidence towards the end of the first period. 0-0 at half time.

The game remained well contested for the next little while, but Hamsey began to exert more pressure and with just 15 minutes to go came the crushing blow. We worked very hard to get back into the game, exerting periodic pressure and forcing a number of corners, but the ball would not drop kindly for us and we had to reluctantly accept defeat at the final whistle. A draw would have been a fair result.

Every player had given their all and were clearly upset to have come off worst. Ben Fitzer, who came off his sick bed, performed very well in goal, making one blinding save in the first half. He also saved a penalty and survived its most unmerited retake.

Man Of The Match, however, went to central defender Jamie Hayes, who was like a rock in our defence throughout the game.

We must all pull together to start getting our just deserts once more. This was yet another result that escaped us.

Keep your heads up boys!