Honours Even

After a heavy cup defeat the previous week to Didcot, the onus was on the coaches to lift the boys and pose the opposition some different questions in the League re-match. Pre-match plans were jeopardised by an injury to Henry but yet again, Harry proved an excellent deputy in goal. We knew what to expect from Didcot so time was spent explaining to the boys that it would be a game of discipline, intensity and commitment. We are delighted to say, the boys did us proud and a 1-1 draw was a great result to come away with.

The match itself was an absorbing contest full of stout defending, line clearances, quick interplay and strong challenges. Harry made a fantastic save from an excellent free-kick and Jack scored a wonderfully taken goal after some superb work by Toby and Ben. It was a result based on defence and  nullifying the Didcot winger by the diligent Toby. At the end of the match, the Didcot manager said we starved him of possession forcing them to go direct to get a goal. Which was the grand plan.

Every Cumnor boy contributed: Doddie out wide, Nathan ploughing the lonely furrow up front, Joseph beasting the midfield, Ben forever niggling and threatening the Didcot defence, Rory and Josh holding the line, Michael neat and tidy at right back, Luke and Adam raiding the wings, James throwing himself heroically into 50:50 challenges, Fyn playing with real sharpness and intelligence. Player of the Week was a very difficult choice but ultimately three people stood out: Toby for his dogged defence and discipline, Harry for stepping into the breach and Jack for a Gerrard-esque midfield display. In the end, it went to Jack. Considering we feared he wouldn't play due to injury, his performance was even more remarkable.

Full credit to Didcot too... we are new in this League, we are experimenting with different combinations, we were without our keeper and arguably in Will, our most creative player, but we learnt from them. They are a superb possession side and showed real patience and imagination, something we'd like our boys to do. But they couldn't break us down and inflict our first League defeat of the season. Still top, still dreaming.

Player of the Week: very close but well deserved, Jack