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This was an
outstanding performance from the 11 Forest Glade players who
were the only available players on the day. Many were asked to
play out of position but all were asked to play to their utmost
potential. |
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With the wind
and the slope in their favour in the first half it was an
outstanding first 40 minutes. Forest were easily the smaller
physically but the desire to play football was immediately
evident and Forest straight away passed the ball quickly and
decisively around the Barnston team. |
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A great
passing move down the right saw Matt Huckle get to the byeline
and cross superbly with pace. Dan Barker attacked the ball in
the centre of the goal but just failed to make contact and the
ball went agonisingly across the goal. |
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Dan Baker was
having a superb game, holding the ball up well and battling hard
for the ball. His lay-offs and turns meant that he managed to
break the Barnston offside trap but unfortunately he lacked the
pace to capitalise on these. |
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In defence the
centre back partnership of Greg Fedden and Tom Pearson were
nullifying the Barnston attack. Stuart Thorn continues to look
an outstanding prospect at left back, and again put in a
wonderful performance. |
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Whilst Forest
dominated the play they were unable to create any meaningful
shots for the Barnston keeper to save, whilst Elliott Thwaites,
in the Forest goal, just acted as a sweeper. |
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Right at the
end of the first half the Barnston keeper erred when he over
stepped his goal area as he went to punt the ball clear. The
Referee awarded a freekick to Forest for handball right on the
edge of the Barnston goal area. Tom Pearson struck the ball
powerfully into the top right of the Barnston goal for the
breakthrough that Forest’s play had deserved. |
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The second
half started with Forest continuing to attempt to play a passing
football game but the exertions of the first half were beginning
to affect a couple of the Forest players and Barnston began to
dominate the possession. For all of Barnston’s possession they
were restricted to long distance efforts which either went
tamely through to Elliott or missed the target completely.
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Forest’s
best play in this half was centred on the right side of the
pitch where Alex Chapman, Chris Baker and Dan Barker battled
against the strength of the Barnston left. It was an end-to-end
battle with Chris Baker, given his lack of stature, having an
outstanding performance. |
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The luck
however wasn’t with Forest as with 15 minutes to go the ball
fell to a Barnston defender just inside the Forest half. He
smashed the ball hopefully forward and the ball went high into
the air and caught the strong wind. As Elliott backtracked
towards his goal line the ball kept on coming and came down at
such an acute angle that it beat the Forest keeper at his top
right-hand corner of the goal. |
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The Forest
heads momentarily dropped but they lifted as they were quickly
onto the attack. Matt Huckle battled hard at the halfway line
and managed to knick the ball away from the Barnston defence. As
he ran towards goal he just couldn’t break away from the chasing
defender who put in a great tackle to clear the ball. |
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With just a
few minutes to go a Forest corner from Tom Pearson went right
across the six yard box. It struck a Barnston defender and
bounced up for Greg Fedden to volley the ball goal wards. Again
the luck was against Forest as it hit a defender on the goal
line. The ball pinballed around but was finally cleared by
Barnston. |
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The final
whistle went soon after and both teams appeared happy with the
result. |
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A draw was
perhaps a fair result but the Forest players today should take a
lot of credit from their performance and it was great to see
that they were if anything disappointed at not getting all three
points. The 11 players today are now in possession of the
starting shirts and if they perform as they did today in
training and the next games it will be hard for those coming
back from their holidays to get them back. |
