NEW BOY LUKE MAKES HIS MARK

In football parlance this was a six pointer with both teams needing a win to ease their relegation fears. A win for us would see us increase the points difference over Crawley Green to 6 whilst a win for our guests would see them draw level with us. With so much at stake it was no wonder this was a tight affair with little to choose between the teams.

After reaching half time with the scores level pegging at 1-1 the turning point came after the break when new signing Luke Little, making only his second appearance, scored his first goal for the club. It waproved to be crucial and hopefully it will be his first of many.

A downpour a few hours before the kick off unfortunately made the playing surface soft and sticky which didn't help either side. Manager Ian Richardson decided to rest a few key players, with Mark Riddick and Max Hercules dropping to the bench, as we have a lot of games coming up with a visit on Thursday to 4th placed Leighton Town and then on Saturday Berkhamsted, who sit second in the table, are the visitors to Tring.

Kicking up the "infamous" slope (a term used by one of our rivals whose pitch is far from flat!) we got off to the worse possible start when we conceded a goal within 6 minutes. It stemmed from a free kick which was well struck by Patrick Daly which forced Lewis Todd into a good save who then did well to block a follow up shot from Tyler Ingham.

But the relief was short lived as from the corner our opponents were awarded a penalty. It looked a bit soft but none of the lads protested so perhaps it was the right call. Green's leading scorer Charlie Clayton scored to make it 27 goals for the season, a very impressive record considering the team as a whole have only scored 64 goals in all competitions. Score 0-1.

This early set back could have knocked us for six especially bearing in mind that we have found goals hard to come by in the league this season but fortunately we grabbed an equaliser within 6 minutes. But before the goal Luke Dunstan, who was wearing the captain's arm band in the absence of Sam Joliffe, went on a trade mark run which took him into the heart of the opposition's defence but he shot over the bar.

No matter the equaliser came soon afterwards with a bit of help from the Green defence. Following a free kick James Butler recycled the ball back to Joe Fitzgerald who hit a first time sumptuous curling cross to the far where in his haste to clear the ball the opposition right back Sam Peverall put the ball into his own net. To be fair to the defender George Carbery was right behind him and he later went on have a very good game for the opposition. Score 1-1.

After that the game was fairly even and our opponents played some very nice football despite being one off the bottom of the table. Peverall tried to make up for his earlier error with a superb cross that just evaded his colleagues at our far post. Tommy Twelves, who was making his first welcome start since 3 February, had a pop at goal which was well struck but straight at the keeper and Joe Fitzgerald and Jack Sunderland linked up well down our right with Sundy's cross headed over his own bar by an opposition defender, who must have feared giving away another own goal.

A poor defensive pass to Luke Little could have proved costly but Luke fired his shot well over the bar. Nice play by Chris Vardy set up Luke Little for a shot that was blocked. The half ended with the opposition putting some pressure on us by winning a couple of corners but there were no more goals and an even half ended all square. HT Score 1-1.

The second period restarted in lively fashion with Dave O'Connor heading a corner straight at the keeper and Peverall sent over another great cross to the far post that went begging. Tommy Twelves produced a lovely pass to send Luke Little away down the middle but he was stopped in his tracks by a super saving tackle from centre back Sam Pemberton.

There was almost a candidate for goal of the season when Tommy Twelves flighted pass to the far side of the area was met with a stunning volley from Chris Vardy, but unfortunately it was off target. Both sides were going for the win rather than playing for a point and Shaun Foley produced a firm header from a corner that went over. Clayton then escaped down the right and crossed to James Bishop who shot across goal.

Luke Little has shown in the very short period he has been with us that he is prepared to work his socks off for the team. So in the 57th minute when the ball was passed back to the keeper Charlie Yates he immediately shut him down and robbed the custodian as he attempted a Cruyff turn. Luke then evaded the keepers lunge to fire the ball into the empty net. It was a just reward for the impressive effort Luke has put into the team so far. Score 2-1.

The visitors came back strongly and started to dominate possession in a valiant attempt to get back in the game. We were forced to defend which we did very well. Lewis Todd demonstrated maturity beyond his teenage years to punch a couple of dangerous corners away whilst under pressure and looked assured with his handling.

There were some anxious moments which will dealt with but generally we looked solid and organised and restricted our opponents to very few scoring opportunities. Max Hercules came off the bench and soon went close with a free kick from around 25 yards out forcing the keeper into a spectacular flying save to prevent it nestling into the top right hand corner of the net.

Unfortunately the keeper banged his head against the post and the game was held up for about 7 minutes whilst he was bandaged up. Fortunately he was able to continue and we hope that he was okay afterwards.

Dave O'Connor headed a corner wide which Chris Vardy got on the end of but could only shoot into the side netting. Lately we seem to specialise in delivering poor free kicks, we mucked up a couple on Saturday, and when we again failed to get the ball into the box where our big players were waiting we feared the worse as we were caught short at the back. But substitute Josh Bamfield shot straight at Lewis Todd.

With about a quarter of an hour to go Max Hercules and Luke Dunstan linked up with the ball falling to Luke Little whose close range shot was blocked. It has to be said that in the main that both defences played well to restrict goal scoring chances. Substitute Sodiq Thompson did find the back of our net but was flagged offside. Green's last roll of the dice came when defender Peverall fiercely struck a long range shot which went just wide and we were able to hold on for a valuable win. FT Score 2-1.

This was a typical relegation scrap and although we were the beneficiary of two defensive mistakes we could point out that the goal we gave away came from a penalty. There was little to choose between the sides but for once we were the more clinical and reaped the rewards.

This was a vital win especially as Cockfosters, Holmer Green and Stotfold all picked up points on the night. The three points pushed us up one placed to 15th in the table above Cockfosters (who had a creditable 2-2 draw at home to Levy Green) on goal difference. We have an 8 point advantage over bottom placed Stotfold who boosted their chance of survival by beating London Tigers 2-1 at home.

We are still not out of the woodwork yet especially as we have 2 tough game coming up in the next 4 days. After that we will have 9 games left but only one will be against a top 6 side so these are matches we are more than capable of winning.

It was a good performance all round especially as we had one eye on the fixtures coming up in the next few days. Luke Little stood out not only for his goal but for his performance generally but there should also be a special mention for our two full backs Jack Sunderland, who normally plies his trade further up the pitch on the wing and Connor Church who was making only his 4th start in the First Team. Both played well and showed some lovely skills.

Teams:

TA:1 Lewis Todd 2 Jack Sunderland 3 Connor Church 4 Tommy Twelves 5 James Butler 6 Dave O'Connor 7 Joe Fitzgerald 8 Luke Little 9 Chris Vardy (12 Mark Riddick 90+2) 10 Luke Dunstan (Capt) 11 George Carbery (16 Max Hercules 62). Subs not used: 14 Steve Nott-Macaire 15 Ben Johnson

CG:1 Charlie Yates 2 Sam Peverall 3 Sam Willett 4 Steve Redmond (Capt) 5 Sam Pemberton 6 Connor Richardson 7 Shaun Foley (14 Josh Bamfield 57) 8 Tyler Ingham (12 Sodiq Thompson 90) 9 Charlie Clayton 10 James Bishop 11 Patrick Daly. Sub not used: 15 Craig Meyrick.

Scorers:

TA:OG (12), Luke Little (57)

CG:Charlie Clayton Pen (6)

Crowd:47

CG Web:

https://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/crawleygreenfc01/138120/Matches/report/6418877

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