Magnets 4 - 1 Guildford Gladiators Men’s O50s (A)

Scorers: Waller, Jackson, Michael, Beaney R

Six weeks into the league season and the Magnets have played just three matches thanks to a bye week, a cancellation, and the half-term break.

We approached the game against Guildford with some trepidation as they were unbeaten and top of the table. Bar a couple of shameful exceptions, the squad looked sharp and smart in their new Mizuno green away shirts, most of which were getting their first outings.

Unfortunately our performance in the first ten minutes was contrastingly shapeless and lackadaisical. After soaking up quite a bit of pressure we inevitably went behind. But, instead of buckling, we knuckled down and started to show what we are capable of, playing some really nice moves and creating several good chances. We drew level with a direct PC strike and went into the break feeling confident with the scores level.

We dominated the second half, creating chances galore, with goals coming at steady intervals: from Jacko with a deceptive push to the keeper’s left that trickled in at the near post; a tap-in from Luke after a well-worked PC routine; and, a straightforward chance taken by Richard (he had to score from at least one of his multitude of opportunities!).

Overall a very pleasing team performance. With three wins from three matches we are now second in the league behind Guildford but with two games in hand. It will now be good to have a run of matches and we look forward to welcoming back Rob Leach who has been playing for England O60s at the World Cup in Tokyo where he won a silver medal.

For the record, our previous match results and scorers were:

vs Old Kingstonians (A) W 3-1 (Leach, Green, Todd)
vs Reading (H) W6-1 (Dowthwaite 2, Beaney R 2, Noaksy, Jacko)