Scorers: Croft, Bagley
A typically competitive north London derby saw the 8s come from two goals behind to rescue a point against their close rivals. When it comes to this eagerly awaited fixture, the AP ‘Code Of Conduct And General Respect’ policy prevents the usual highly biased match report, so a draw was probably a fair result. Both teams showed high commitment and effort in search of a victory.
The 8s showed good spirit to fight back from 2-0 down at the break but both sides had chances to snatch a late winner.
After a below par first half, Pete Croft pulled a goal back on 70 minutes with a well taken finish for his 7th of the season, before an exquisite lob from Nigel Bagley rescued a late point with time running out. As Henry and Scholes have both proved in the past week, there’s no substitute for experience. Bagley has ‘been there and done it’ at the top level and got his team a vital point in an important game here. Surely it’s only a matter of time before a Nigel Bagley statue is built outside the Racecourse Ground?
All of the 8s substitutes made a positive difference in the second half (Waldrum, Robbins and Bagley) and over all it was good to see the continued battling spirit of the team to force a result. The core of the 8s team all have competitive streaks, which is much needed when the chips are down. This was the fifth game this season we have come from behind to get a result, which pleases SPT a lot.
Two good saves from Jamie Roberts, a glorious goal from Nigel Bagley and ‘never say die’ effort from a number of others, but MOM goes to Will Dudmish – A solid performance at Right Back (despite taking a few kicks), good passing, a cool head and he came close to scoring with a long range shot.
