BNU Reserves 3-2 Eastbourne
We'll start with the ref. LOL. Yellow cards for every single instance of bad language, even if not directed at anyone but oneself. Throw ins incorrectly awarded to the wrong side throughout. Made for really frustrating football.
Eastbourne opened the scoring, think it was from a set piece where one of their guys ghosted right in to about 6yards unmarked and nudged it in. A few mins later we leveled the score at 1-1 after being awarded a penalty. Keeper did well to block it but unfortunately for him he sent it straight back to the taker who headed it in. I think we probably had the better of the opportunities this half, but their keeper did well to get down and make a couple of good saves. We were otherwise pretty wasteful and didnt really get a lot on target. 1-1 halftime.
Second half saw Eastbourne step it up a bit and were more threatening in front of goal than in the first half, and went ahead with what was probably the goal of the match, a nice dipping lob over the keeper from about 20 yards, and to rub salt in the wounds it was a former BNU player who scored it. All i remember from this point on was feeling like absolute shit after being out until about 4am the night before, and with a nasty graze on my knee (see Artificial Pitches - Injuries? - page 4) Eastbourne were really punishing me. To our credit though we kept on battling, had what was a good call for a penalty turned down, and also a bit of a biff involving most of the players on the pitch (surprised at no cards shown - i think the ref was a bit out of his depth here). We created a few scrambles in the box and a couple of them eventually paid off, two fairly similar goals in the late stages of the game sealed it. The win takes us back into 3rd spot with a game in hand against Eastbourne.
A solid physical game played in good spirits, apart from that clash in the 2nd half, but we all shared a changing room after the match and laughed it off. And laughed at the ref. Looking forward to the return fixture.