Goals: N’Gola (2), Scantlebury, Spencer
A friendly against the tenth eleven this week gave us an opportunity to keep up the momentum and fitness against a surprisingly well organised side with some good players. It was also just quite nice not to be playing Crouch End for once.
In the first half we had a lot of the ball but perhaps sat too deep to create clear-cut chances. Going slightly longer gave the ten’s adept defence opportunities to clear and meant Terry and Pete were a bit isolated despite looking dangerous. The breakthrough only came when a typically spot-on Terry corner saw Scants rise and head home.
The 10s had only really tested Toby from distance and Richard decided to give him a little more to do when Mike clashed with the 10’s winger on the edge of the area to concede a controversial penalty. Fortunately Toby did what German keepers do in these situations and saved it.
The second half saw the game open up and that favoured us. As usual the defence was organised and combative allowing us to push on and apply some pressure. Banny and Tom were hungry and mobile with excellent movement and linked up well after Derek won the ball for Robin to cross and Banny to finish. Pete now started to find space behind the lines and Tom got one of his own and Banny got on the end of a toe punt as well.
A good test for us and a number of the ten’s players impressed.
Next week its back to competitive action with a trip to Acton for a chance to get into the INC cup quarter final. Interestingly (at least I think so) Actonians have a very similar record to us, with 4 wins from 5, 16 scored and 4 conceded. They beat the team that is top of their league last weekend so it should be a good clash between two in form teams. In fact November carries a number of big games for us in league and cup, so let’s get it kicked off with a good performance.
MOM: Jamie and Olly were very good at the back, but Banny shades it for his best game of the season.
