Magnets 3 - 2 Old Cranleighans Hamstrings (A)

Scorers: Hardy, Michael, Todd

Maybe it was the early start, or perhaps the miserable weather. But, whatever it was, something clearly affected our performance. And not in a good way. The opening 20 minutes was as bad as we have played for some time and we were soon two down to a typically hard running and organised OCs team. Nerves were frayed and blood pressure levels high; not something you really want in a Masters game.

Last week we recovered after going a goal down early on. This time though it looked very unlikely that we would claw our way back into the match such was our lack of commitment, absence of basic skills and poor communication.  

However, as the first half petered out, Noaksy dribbled in from the right side of the D and managed to squeeze a low lob over the advancing keeper to get us a goal back. It may have taken a deflection on the way in but at least we were back in it, even if our efforts didn’t really merit it.

Some very harsh words and criticism at half time seemed to jolt the team out of its stupor. With a renewed sense of determination we slowly began to build up some meaningful attacks. It still wasn’t pretty; slow thinking and unforced errors still permeated. But we did enough, and good work and determination, from Michael in particular, saw us claw our way back into the game, securing the win with a calmly taken PS from Toddy.

This was an absolutely exasperating performance. But, upon reflection, and although we ‘won ugly’, it was no mean feat to have come back from two down to take the points. We remain three points behind the league leaders with two games in hand and will look forward to putting this performance behind us and continuing our run against Sunbury at home next week.