Post by spur on Nov 11, 2023 18:00:29 GMT
When your keeper wins the man of the match award you can't grumble too much about a narrow defeat, but this one could have gone either way at the end. By the time Nathan made the first of four tremendous first half saves the score was already one a piece after a roller coaster start. On four minutes Ayo burst out of defence to play in Tommy Wood, who neatly rounded the keeper and slotted home. Little more than a minute later it was red-faced time in the Rooks defence. The visitors surged forward, their no. 11 was left unmarked and although he miss-hit his shot the spinning ball was hooked into his own net by the unfortunate Ayo.
Game on, as they say - and it was Wingate who always looked the more likely. They were happy to sit back while we unavailingly tried to find a way through (always too slow and unimaginative), and then they would spring forward at pace, forcing those heroics from Nathan.
But if they were proving themselves one of the best teams we'd seen at the Pan this season, they didn't have it all their own way in the second period. Nathan did have to make a couple more smart saves, but it was their keeper who became increasingly busy as the half progressed and as we managed to step up the pace. A fine move down the right saw Kalvin meeting the ball unopposed a few yards out, but it came to him at speed and he lifted it over the bar. Luck payed a part, too: Harvey Hughes blasted a shot from the edge of the area which hit the post, rebounded onto the keeper and bounced the wrong side of the post.
But Wingate still looked dangerous. They threw on a bevy of subs - each one taller than the one before - and on 87 minutes they had their reward. A free kick was only half cleared and one of those newcomers lashed the ball home.
Cruel perhaps, although the Rooks will surely feel that they were a little workmanlike today, their opponents faster and more fluid in their attacking. But for a crowd of 700-plus it was entertaining stuff from the first whistle to the last. COYR!
Game on, as they say - and it was Wingate who always looked the more likely. They were happy to sit back while we unavailingly tried to find a way through (always too slow and unimaginative), and then they would spring forward at pace, forcing those heroics from Nathan.
But if they were proving themselves one of the best teams we'd seen at the Pan this season, they didn't have it all their own way in the second period. Nathan did have to make a couple more smart saves, but it was their keeper who became increasingly busy as the half progressed and as we managed to step up the pace. A fine move down the right saw Kalvin meeting the ball unopposed a few yards out, but it came to him at speed and he lifted it over the bar. Luck payed a part, too: Harvey Hughes blasted a shot from the edge of the area which hit the post, rebounded onto the keeper and bounced the wrong side of the post.
But Wingate still looked dangerous. They threw on a bevy of subs - each one taller than the one before - and on 87 minutes they had their reward. A free kick was only half cleared and one of those newcomers lashed the ball home.
Cruel perhaps, although the Rooks will surely feel that they were a little workmanlike today, their opponents faster and more fluid in their attacking. But for a crowd of 700-plus it was entertaining stuff from the first whistle to the last. COYR!