The UNITS were edged out 1-0 by Snooks in the top of the table affair at Morgan Matroc on Bank Holiday Sunday
Disappointingly for an important fixture Cuzer only had 12 players to choose from with Pountney picking up an injury, Wallace & Kirbs at the Albion, Penna the Villa, Turner a no show, Tayl's banned & Lacey working, Shorty traveled from Birmingham to help the numbers so we lined up as follows
Mala, Chinner, Barney, Eggy, Darbs, Baker, Coco, Ashton, Ross, Jay & Marcus
Subs - Jim & Shorty
With both sides playing a packed midfield the initial exchanges were very cagey with neither side threatening and both sides working hard without the ball. It took 17 minutes for the first shot of note to be registered and that was a 25 yarder from a Snooks midfielder which ambled wide of Mala's post
On the break with Ashton and Ross especially looking dangerous we were having our moments, we actually put the ball in the net on the 20 minute mark after a slick three man move down the Snooks right but goal scorer Ross was denied by a marginal offside call
10 minutes later we were close to taking the lead, some great play again down our left resulted in Ashton crossing low to the back post where Jay was denied a tap in by a fine full length stop from the Snooks keeper who parried the ball behind for a corner, the closest either side had come to opening the scoring
The half remained a stalemate with neither side creating anything of note
HT Snooks 0 v 0 TS UNITS
Cuzer couldn't fault the application of the lads with so many players missing but felt things were a little hurried in our approach play, we were looking to hit on the break too often and could keep the ball a little better
Credit to Snooks in the second half they started well and penned us back again without creating any clear chances, they were having a lot of ball in front of us as we struggled to get a foot hold in the game for the first 15
Alas on the 60 mark we shot ourselves in the foot and gifted them the all important goal, from a UNITS throw by their 18 yard box we pushed men forward and as the ball broke to the Snooks keeper he launched a quick long kick downfield where Eggy found himself one on one with Fezza. Eggy decided to let the ball bounce and in trying to recover and under pressure from Fez he only managed to stretch and loop the ball over Mala into the unguarded net, a real hammer blow for the UNITS
Being behind Cuzer shuffled the shape as in a game of few chances we had to now try and force the equalizer and we couldn't have come any closer on 70 minutes when from a UNITS free kick Darbs got infront of his man and guided the ball goalwards only for the upright to save Snooks with the keeper routed to the spot, Jay followed up with a header from 6 yards which their keeper made a great save again spreading himself and from the next rebound Marcus fired goalwards and again Stu in the Snooks goal pulled off a fine block pushing the ball behind for a corner
With the game now more stretched Snooks were hitting us as we pushed men forward but despite getting to our byeline on more than one occasion again Mala was relatively untested, one 30 yarder from Holty after a poor initial kick from Mala was the closest they come to adding to their lead
As for us we huffed and puffed but couldn't find an equalizer, Jim and Shorty came on for Marcus and Coco and Jim had his season ended prematurely with a broken foot as he went in for a challenge which ultimately summed up our luck on the day
Snooks certainly shaded the possession over the 90 minutes yet it was their keeper who made the all important key saves as we can feel a little hard done by not to come away with at least a point
Man of the match went to Ross who never stopped working and put Snooks backline under pressure with his running in behind and willingness to work the channels
Cuzer
