The Baggies started the day in second place on goal difference and probably fancied their chances of moving clear at the top. The only change to our team was Toby Young returning from suspension to replace the unfortunate Stefan Aiwone, who will be out for a few weeks following the injury sustained against Knaphill.
Badshot looked to be a young, fit side and almost had a chance in the opening seconds when a through ball found its way through, but fortunately evaded their forwards too. We had an early chance as well, with Kingsley Anoyke using his strength to beat his defender. His shot was blocked and went over the bar but could easily have dropped in. From the ensuing corner, Brendan Murphy-McVey found Antonios Nazareth, but his header went wide of the right-hand post.
In the 8th minute Toby was fortunate not to find his way into the book. The Baggies broke quickly, picking up a poor pass following another Salts corner. Two forwards took the ball at pace but Toby, chasing back, “took one for the team.” Amazingly, he only got a talking-to from the referee. Maybe they were still in our half, but it certainly prevented a dangerous move.
A couple of minutes later Luis Oliveira won the ball on the touchline and found McVey, who in turn moved the ball to Anoyke. He took his defender all the way to the left side of the box, where eventually the referee gave a foul as he was pulled down.
McVey took a well-worked free kick, with Adam Green running to the line and taking one defender off the wall, but Brendan cleverly played the ball square to Luke, whose shot was heading for the top corner. White, in the Badshot goal, made a remarkable save, tipping the ball over the bar at full stretch. From the corner McVey found Emmanuel Limpo, but he was unable to get over the ball and his header flashed wide.
In the 19th minute a ball into our area was cleared and looked to be safe, but a tremendous volley from outside the box was well saved by Faebian, tipping the ball over the bar. The referee somehow decided it had gone straight over and gave a goal kick. We were straight back down the other end, with Anoyke making a run and a shot from our left was parried by the keeper. Luke was following up with a defender and, when the full-back totally missed the ball, he put Luke off and the ball drifted safely away.
Andrew Herring then made a good run to the line and crossed the ball across the goal, but there was no one following up and again the ball was safely cleared. We finally got our chance to take the lead in the 31st minute when Kionte was taken out in the box after a good run. The Badshot defender felt he had played the ball, but he took Kionte out with his follow-through. Up stepped our captain Green (with a 100% penalty record this season) and he placed a powerful shot to the bottom left-hand corner, but White in the Badshot goal got down quickly and managed to tip the ball around the post. Still 0-0.
Badshot broke quickly again from the corner and seemed to have two or three options, but The Salts defence got back quickly and snuffed out any chance. The same thing happened after our next attack, but this time we did give away a free kick just outside the box in a central position. The shot though went harmlessly wide. We almost gave Badshot the lead in the 40th minute when we played the ball across the back line and Naz slipped, letting the Badshot forward in on goal. He made a recovering challenge from behind, which the Badshot bench thought was a penalty, but the referee felt he had played the ball and waved play on.
No other chances of note and we went in all square at 0-0, although The Salts will feel they had more of the game and probably should have had at least one goal.
The second half kicked off with only one change: Niall Stillwell replaced Brendan Murphy-McVey, who was limping as he went to the dressing room at half-time. Badshot showed their determination to take us on. A corner two minutes in was won on the near post by a defender who headed clear. The ball was picked up by the Baggies’ No. 11, Jones, who ran the length of the pitch, leaving some of our players trailing due to his pace. His shot though was well saved by Witter. I wonder if he took the ball too far and had less of the goal to aim at, but he certainly showed some pace.
Badshot certainly had a good team talk and were far more dangerous in the second half. As a result, both teams played some excellent flowing football – real end-to-end stuff. However, neither team really troubled the keeper. In the 65th minute a ball in the air beat Naz and he missed his header. We gave away a free kick trying to clear the ball, but the shot hit the wall and went away for a corner.
We made three subs shortly after, with Obasanjo Akinniranye replacing Kionte (72), Jack Torbett – making his first appearance of the season – coming on for Emmanuel Limpo (75), and Andrew Herring making way for Craig Dundass (78).
In the 86th minute the referee ignored a call for handball against us in our half, much to the chagrin of the Baggies’ bench again. Unfortunately Badshot No. 4 carried on the argument a bit too forcefully for the referee, although being quite close, I didn’t hear anything abusive, and he was sent to the sin bin, effectively leaving them with 10 men for the final minutes.
In the second minute of injury time Craig found himself played in and he had support on his right but ploughed on, only to be taken out by the Badshot No. 3, Callum Kent, which earned him a yellow. From the free kick taken by Torbett, his shot could only be parried by White. Anoyke was following up and went for the challenge, which left him and the keeper on the floor. There was no thought of malice, but Kingsley received a little treatment that made him leave the field. The referee had given a free kick.
When the ball was in play Kingsley inexplicably returned to the game, apparently due to the Badshot coach waving him on, but it is not his decision and he received a silly yellow.
The referee blew up for full-time shortly after and I think both teams were satisfied with a point. Neither team deserved to lose and the game was played in a good spirit. After the game both sides thought they had played the best team so far this season, which augurs well for the season. Badshot Lea move to the top of the table, although they have played eight games. We sit in 12th on goal difference, although we have only played five games.
The management team were happy with the performance in their interview after the game. A draw was a good result, but it was our first clean sheet in the league since the first game of the season, so well done to Faebian and the defence.
We move on to our biggest game for a number of years as we travel to Eastbourne Borough on Saturday for the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round. Our next home game is due on Tuesday in the Combined Counties Premier Challenge Cup, but this depends on Saturday’s result, so keep an eye on our socials.
