Colts smash and grab a late point.
Most of the time we are the footballing side and we play battling teams who defend well against us, but today it was a case of roll reversal.
After a promising opening few minutes the Colts were on the back foot and defending in numbers. Tunbridge had a few District and Academy players in their line up today and it really made a difference for them. Tunbridge moved the ball back to front and right to left today but Remy and his defenders soaked it up very well. Our tackles were stronger and much more meaningful today and they had to be!
Although Rhys was relatively quiet in goal it was only because the defence and midfield were doing their jobs so well. From an attacking point of view Stuart was the only real threat we posed. It was fair to say we were holding on a bit.
As half time approached a quick move down their right and a cross to the back post resulted in the opening goal. 1-0 (32). HALF TIME and a chance to regroup, keep yourselves in the game we told the lads and you never know.
But the first 15 minutes of the second half was just an extension of the first really. Tunbridge had the ball, we chased it and we defended it. But we were defending well with Rhys making one great save to keep us in the match. However the longer the game went on the more Tunbridge got frustrated. JJ, Ollie, Scott and the awesome Remy made countless last gasp goal saving tackles and at only 1 down we had a chance to nick something, if we could only get the ball forward and keep it up there and start defending from the front. Easier said than done.
Now some say “fortune favours the brave” (well Andy and Rob do anyway) and with ten minutes left on the clock we pushed Stuart up front to his favoured position and Remy into midfield as we tried to take the game to Tunbridge. The game as expected became very open now and the result rested on a knife-edge. Stuart saw his free kick well saved then Scott and Ollie cleared away chances at the other end.
Leon had a chance as Tunbridge were getting pushed back. Remy cleared off his own line; he and Stuart were all over the place trying everything to get us a goal. We were deep into injury time when we won a throw level with the 18-yard line. Stuart threw it high and long, a Tunbridge defending flicked it on and Jack caught it on the half volley and hooked it past the keeper and into the corner of the net. 1-1 (70+). The fans went wild the coaches remained calm !
27.1.07 Key learning point: NO MATTER WHAT THE SCORE IS, YOU ALWAYS PLAY UNTIL THE FINAL WHISTLE IS BLOWN.
M.O.M nominations included 1 vote for Rhys and Ollie but Remy pipped Stuart as they got 15 votes between them. Well done to both you lads.