Casuals and Pelham home league game against Sawbridgeworth Brewery epitomised the phrase a game of two halves as they let a 3-0 half time lead slip to draw 3-3 and gift the away side a point. Pelham started the game so well and carried over their form and good work from the first two games of the season. They were quick out the blocks setting a fast tempo and were well drilled and organised. Pelham took the lead after 10 minutes as Charlie Daniels shut down the opposition keeper quickly, managing to get a block on his clearance and latched onto that block to tap the ball into an empty net. Daniels soon doubled the lead getting his second in quick succession and made it 2-0 after a similar amount of pressure on the Brewery back line, winning the ball back and passing past the keeper. Pelham continued to look organised and play well and every Brewery opportunity was snuffed out and blocked before it could make its way to Cal in the sticks. Lynskey was called into action in the first half as he saved well from a direct freekick and keep the score at 2-0. Pelham rounded off a first half performance with a fully deserved third goal as Daniels completed his hattrick latching on to a Dan Boyce through ball after some good hold up play from Dan Arran. Pelham started to feel the pace they had set in the first half for the last 5 minutes of the ahlf but managed to put the effort in and see the half out at 3-0. The second half was a complete contrast and straight from kick off Pelham were put under the cosh by Brewery. However they stood strong, rode their luck at times but managed to deal with what Sawbo threw at them. However they were pegged back on 50 minutes as some slack play from Pelham gifted chances tp Brewery and to be fair to them they obliged and took one.Sawbos tails were up after that goal and the momentum was with the away side. Pelham were all over the place shape wise and jjust could not get a footholf on the game in the second half. 3-1 turned into 3-2 on 71 minutes and in inevitable happened on 82 minutes with the scores being brought level at 3-3. Pelham still managed to create a couple of good opportunities in the second half which they couldnt take but ultimately they played nowhere near their standards not only of the first half but of the season so far and it was a rude awakening for the season. The game finished 3-3 and the mood in each camp was hugely different at full time. Pelham were gutted to let an opportunity like that slip and it felt like a defeat, whereas listening to the Brewery huddle after the game, they were buzzing to get the point with whispers on getting away with one. Man of the match goes to Charlie Daniels for his opportunistic hattrick. This one will hurt boys for a few days and it does feel like a loss after having that 3-0 lead and throwing it away like that. I'm sure we are all looking at where it went wrong and what we could have done and i know i certainly have been thinking about what more i could have done today and there is for me a lot in that second half i could have improved on. Personally i dont think the second half performance was down to just one factor. All three goals were very similar and we still didnt manage to stop them. I think partly complacency crept in, dominating the first half being 3 goals to the good and limiting them to one real chance from a direct freekick. Our shape and organisation went massively in the second half which could be down to just us personally but more likely it could be a fitness factor. A lot was put in to that first half and we set a high pace for the whole 45 minutes, we certainly gave them more space and time in the second half and it seemed like voices and work rate may have droped with that partly a factor. However minus that second half performance today, we know we can play football and we can play it well. So dont just ultimately forget that and the best thing about playing football is you have the opportunity to go out there and put it right next weekend. Fortunately in this legaue its only 2 points for a win, so getting a point isnt the end of the world. We are not going to win every single game this season and even in our unbeaten campaign we still dropped points with draws during it against much worse opposition. So take the positives, its a point, we continue our unbeaten start to the campaign and we can either feel sorry for ourselves next sunday and not perform, or we can make the most of this point and use it as a learning curve which we have to do. Stick together boys, we ultimately all want to work towards the same goal which is to win football matches playing well and enjoying ourselves. Tough fixtures coming up for us in the next month and if we come out of those near the top of the league we can push on for top of the table at christmas. Rest up in the week, get back to being positive as we are and lets get together again next weekend and put it right, big character needed from everyone next week.
