The fleet got their first win of the season on Sunday against a much changed and experienced Milton & Denton (new signings obtained from divisions above), and if there could ever be a 3-1 mauling then this was it, our patience and quality shining through in the end.
2 changes were made to last weeks team, with new signing Craig Sibun making his full debut for Jameo who was away for the weekend and Hambo starting up front for Adam W in a change of formation.
4-4-2 Gk: Rikki, Def: Dan Mitchell, Craig, Daren, Mark Cr Mid: Nath, Sam, Mo, Eddie Fwd: Hambo Sav - Subs Adam H, Ryan & Adam W.
After 30 minutes of continuous pressure and with chance after chance being created, none of which being converted (Nath at the forefront of most of our attacking play putting over excellent crosses at every opportunity), Milton took the lead, Rikki was tempted into coming out to close the forward who duely lobbed him, but Rikki certainly made the right choice to try and return to his goal knowing he wasnt gonna get there, as any contact with the forward would of resulted in a red card and a harder game with 10 men.
Although the goal was completely against the run of play, we looked, for 5 minutes after, like a punch drunk boxer waiting for our head to clear, all stunned by the Milton goal. Even though we had created upwards of 12 chances in the first 45 minutes alone - half time was blown and the score was 0-1 - somehow !!.
Halftime chat focused on our need for patience and that one goal would get them shaking, being slightly weary of the threat posed by their impressive forward who had caused us minor problems in the first half.
The second half began and our intentions were clear, within the first couple of kicks we were straight onto the front foot and Nath was hitting the byline crossing the ball again. Milton held firm and had no answer to our relentless pressure, as a few more chances went begging - finally the equaliser, a corner from the left by Nath - Craig heading towards goal with the final touch coming off the head of a defender - finally we had scored and we were level, Craig scoring on his debut - we got a massive lift and continued to press for the winner.
The second came after more excellent work from Nath hitting the box and squaring it to Eddie who calmly slotted it in the far corner - a classy finish. More was to come as Dan Mitchell scored his first goal for the club - he had been moved up front in our first change as Hambo went off for Adam Harding. Dan held up the ball really well and his good play was rewarded with a clinical, classy finish similar to Eddies.
2 Late substitutions were made as Adam W and Ryan replaced Mo & Nath respectively, but the game was won as our patience and in particular our class shone through in the end. 3 points well deserved and we hope to follow that up next week with 3 more against Prince of Orange Athletic.
I'd like to wish Adam Harding a speedy recovery as he has a shoulder operation on Saturday, we should see him back in action in the early part of the new year if all goes well.
