Scorers: Tullett (2), Mounir.
A cracking game in Beckenham and thanks to all the lads who made the journey south in contrast to 5 no-shows, one player who went to the wrong ground, another whose car broke down and one who cried off as I was walking into the ground! I was not happy and a nightmare scenario was unfolding. If you can’t play, say so preferably before match day. Not turning up without any saying anything is unacceptable. If you are on the reserves and you get a call, text or email from me or the Team Sec, kindly reply. There’s not much point being on the reserves if you don’t want to play.
The oppo lent us 3 players so we had the bare 11. Those who missed the game passed up the opportunity to play on the best pitch we will play on all season. The facilities at KCCC are second to none – even the beer’s good. The pitch promoted passing football and both sides had chances to score in the first 2-3 minutes. As it was Lloyds went in front when we were caught square after 10 minutes and their forward slid it pass the skipper in goal. The back four then tightened up with “Stormin” Norma Alcide and guest player Martin from Lloyds solid at centrebacks. Further up the field Reece Kendall was causing mayhem on the right wing but no-one was end of a series of quality crosses. After missing some clear cut chances, AP were 2 down: a shot was pinged into the far corner with the defence and keeper flat-footed. Just before half-time Darren squeezed one in then Mounir stabbed wide when clean through. A costly miss that. 2-1.
The consensus in the dressing room after the game was that we didn’t pass the ball as well in the second half as we did in the first. Who knows but we created chance after chance and should have got a draw. Mounir linked with Amir to make it 2-2. At the other end, Lloyds took their chances. Bagley dropped a free kick and the rebound was driven in for 3-2. Joe Coward then diverted a shot past Bagley for 4-2 and a cross was converted for number 5. Cruel on AP. By this point it was end to end and AP finally got a third when Darren scored with a penalty after a hand ball. Great game, played in the right spirit against a good bunch of lads. Despite the loss I can honestly say that everyone played well. We will gladly go there again – hopefully with 15-16!!
AP: BAGLEY, ELLACOTT, MARTIN, ALCIDE, DEPALA, KENDALL, TOM, COWARD, MOUNIR, TULLETT, AMIR.
