12/12/09

Sherborne Town Res. 0  Ham Rec 2

After weeks without a game the Sherborne fixture was by no means a 'gimme'. We welcomed Mark Dykes and Sam Goodwin making their full debuts for the club.

Recent seasons have proved that a good start can be blighted by the weather and stop-start stuttering fixtures.

On a very poor pitch Rec looked to play their passing game but bumps, bobbles and crevices made this difficult. Having not played for a few weeks some of the play and passing in particular was somewhat rusty. That said in the opening 5 minutes the greens could have been 2 or 3 up with the best chance falling to Mike Notley who shot wide.

The low sun made defending tough with the long ball over the top from our hosts getting lost in the winter sun on occasions. Kevin Leonard had one save to make in an otherwise quiet first period.

The second period started the same as the 1st with Notley again breaking clear on occasions and on another day could have had a hatful. In fairness to Sherborne they stuck to their task and owed a great deal to their goalie who was man of the match and pulled off some 'Lenny' like saves top keep the scores level.

The introduction of Sam Griffin and Ashley Ayley gave the side outright pace in a bid to gain a much needed win to keep our title ambitions on course. With time ticking down some hesitant defending allowed Ayley to pounce and score; 0-1. There was still time for Griffin to notch a goal and give the score line a better look and secure the points for the visitors; 0-2.

Sherborne fought and battled to the end and gave us the odd scare and it proves you must take your chances and if we had, the score could have been very different.

After a long layoff the 3 points were the most important thing to keep our title aspirations burning.