Little Oakley 0 Reserves 0

Following a heavy defeat in a lack lustre performance against albeit, a strong Kings Lynn Town Reserve side, the team returned to winning ways with a midweek victory against bottom club Needham Market Reserves, thus completing the first double of the season. Our first visit of the season to Essex saw the team make the relatively short trip to newly promoted Little Oakley. The sun shone but the wind blew strongly across the pitch.

The first chance of the game came in the tenth minute from a move discussed in the changing room before the game. From a defensive corner Toby Groom and Ben Snowling were left up front. A quick release from Harry Lay-Fulcher saw the host’s centre back in all sorts of trouble as the ball moved in the air. The outcome leaving Toby Groom racing onto the ball and being faced by the goalkeeper who he knocked the ball around only to be felled by said goalkeeper. Jac Garrard stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick but despite striking it well the goalkeeper dived to his left to make the save. Unlike at Kings Lynn the previous week we reacted well and were first to the rebound only to see it cleared off the line for a corner. Neither side really managed to master the wind and the high bounce of the ball on the dry pitch but had our opponents shown a bit more composure in front of goal we could have trailed at half time despite playing the better football. The only save either goalkeeper had to make came with ten minutes of the first half remaining when following a scramble in our penalty area Harry Lay-Fulcher blocked well at his near post.

The second half followed the pattern of the first with, again, neither side coming to terms with the conditions. Our first substitution came in the 72nd minute when the returning Lewis Bell replaced the tiring James Burnett in the centre of midfield. A further substitution followed five minutes later with Nicky Shopov replacing Toby Groom on the left of the three up front. A bizarre incident saw Harry Lay-Fulcher pick up a booking. In the process of throwing the ball out he was impeded, accidentally by a retreating forward, resulting in him throwing the ball to himself. Unfortunately he caught the ball outside his penalty area and therefore received the yellow card for deliberate hand ball. With ten minutes left on the clock Jake Seaber replaced Alfie Norman as the third and final substitution. As the game was heading towards its seemingly inevitable goalless conclusion Harry Lay-Fulcher made an outstanding save to ensure that the inevitable did happen. A fair result against a side who have only suffered one home league defeat this season and another point won on our travels.

FT - Little Oakley 0 Reserves 0