We faced one of the favourites for promotion in our division, Jersey Bulls, on Tuesday evening at King George’s Field. They had just defeated Spelthorne Sports 6-1 in their first game of the season, so we knew we were in for a tough challenge. We were missing Thompson Adeyemi and Sirak Negassi, who have departed the club for new opportunities. We wish them both well as they further their careers elsewhere.
A good crowd of 87 turned up for this encounter, which was impressive considering the match was being streamed back to Jersey for their supporters.
It was inevitable that we would be doing a lot of defending once the match began, as our higher-placed opponents pressed us back into our own half. Our attacking opportunities were few and far between, and it was no surprise when they took the lead after a right-wing cross found its way to an unmarked player at the back post, allowing him to squeeze his effort into the goal. We responded well and had the ball in the back of the Jersey net soon after, only to see the linesman raise the flag for offside. The half ended 1-0.
The second half was a carbon copy of the first, with our opponents having the lion’s share of possession, especially in picking up the second balls. Our task became much harder after Toby Young was shown a straight red card for a tackle; there were no complaints about the decision. The Bulls made the game safe in the 79th minute with a move down our right, ending with a fierce shot beyond our goalkeeper. The match finished 2-0.
We can take some positives from the match, as we played much better than we did in our loss at home to Guildford on Saturday.
We now move on to a very big game in the FA Cup Preliminary Round this Saturday at home to higher-placed Hayes and Yeading. We expect a bigger crowd, especially with our visitors’ following. It would be great to see an equally large Epsom crowd to cheer the team on. Why not come down to King George’s Field for the 3 pm kick-off and see if we can progress further in the FA Cup as we continue our journey ‘on the road to Wembley’.
