Away to Lowhall

The Vets travelled to Redbridge college in Romford to face second from bottom side Lowhall. After a poor start to the season our opposition results had improved recently so we knew we must not take them lightly. Manager Barry Smith had a full squad to choose from and unselfishly left himself out which I hope the players appreciate after the previous game where certain things were mentioned!!!

On a good pitch the game kicked off and the first 20 minutes were pretty even and you could see that we were lacking confidence after losing our last two games.

Tony Graves was put through by Kevin Whitworth but he squandered the chance and we did create several other chances but with no success. Taju was then sent on and immediately good work from Darren Foss on the left saw his cross met by Taju who put a low let foot volley into the net for us to lead 1-0. There was a lot of frustration and we were anxious due to the fact we were not playing well and we knew we were a lot better than our opposition and this led to us giving a debated free kick away only for the ball to be floated into our box for everyone to leave for each other and the opposition striker tapped it home for 1-1. Soon after we scored a second when Darren Foss and Taju combination that led to Taju firing home a similar goal to this first to put us in the lead 2-1. This is how it stayed up to half time. Our team talk was basically keep going don`t get frustrated and it will get better. After a bit of pressure early second half H wiped in a corner and Darren Foss knocked the ball to the edge of the area where Sean Windeatt measured a right footed shot into the back of the net. Yes I said Sean Windeatt!!! 3-1. But rather than take the game away from our opposition we did the opposite, a long ball going down the left channel should have been dealt with by Sean but the striker just managed to beat him to the ball and when he turned he put the ball into the net past our advancing goalkeeper Gary Doodes. 3-2 again this was frustrating but Darren Foss this time turned goalscorer to make it 4-2 but the drama was not over as Kevin Whitworth slipped at a vital time to let the forward have a one against one with Gary but he managed to save it with his legs to save Kevin’s Bacon "What a plonker". We got another goal when Martin Treadway who had missed a couple of chances finally put one away with his left foot to make it 5-2 and that’s how it stayed to the final whistle.

Not our greatest performance but a win and 3 points and that’s what we have to do now for the rest of the season to gain at least promotion but our ultimate goal must be to win the league. The defence was fairly solid, the midfield did try to past the ball and our strikers worked a bit harder than usual

Barry’s man of the match was Taju with two quality goals and a greater work rate which was nice to see from him. Report Kevin Whitworth

Team

Gary Doodes (Capt), Sean Windeatt, Martyn Tribe, Kevin Whitworth, H, Suhail Butt, Steve Hunter, Roger Gayle, Darren Foss, Tony Graves, Martin Treadway, Subs: Taju , Paul Obwinko, Bill Howard, Danny Brown, Hilary Francis.