Men's 2s 4 - 1 Old Loughtonians

London League Premier Division

East Grinstead entertained Old Loughts’ looking to extend their 100% record at Saint Hill. The objective was completed with a dominating performance, the only blemish being a lack of discipline shown in the face of some poor umpiring. For once our warm up was peaceful, as with Tom Gogarty’s car needing repair and him unusually making it on time, we were not interrupted with the usual cacophony of ‘Sick’ drum and bass beats emanating from his sub-woofer!!

Following on from an excellent collective effort against Bowden, EG again started well and created numerous chances without finding the killer touch. As we again began to wonder whether our current wastefulness in front of goal may determine the outcome of the game, Mikey Holland stepped up to flick a short corner low to the keeper’s right to give us a deserved lead. Further chances came and went but we failed to add to our advantage and turned round with a slender lead.

Immediately into the second half we extended our advantage with a goal to light up any dreary November afternoon. The ball was moved the length of the pitch at pace, leaving Christian Wimshurst with the easiest of finishes to cap a wonderful flowing move, involving the defence, midfield and attack. Instead of pushing on - a moment of sloppiness in defence allowed an alert Old Loughts’ forward to give the opposition a lifeline. Yellow cards for Holland and skipper Duncan Howarth unsettled the home side but it was in one of these periods that we regained our 2-goal advantage. Holland launched an aerial from our 22-yard line, Andy Piper ran onto the loose ball before lobbing deftly over the advancing goalkeeper.

Another fine move involving Duncan Scott and Andrew Medcalf left John Fitzpatrick with the simplest of opportunities to seal the game in the dying minutes. This capped a solid performance from the Men in white who can look forward to the next few weeks with renewed vigour in our quest to reach the top position in the league.

Team: Coltham, Woodley, Sims, Budden, Gogarty, Holland, Howarth, Scott, Medcalf, Fitzpatrick, Piper, Wimshurst

Scorers: Holland, Wimshurst, Piper, Fitzpatrick