Leach takes a leaf out of TK's book in disappointing defeat
On a return to last year’s home ground, Fishponds in Tooting, the 3’s were feeling confident after a decent start to the season. With the pitch looking beautiful, conditions set fair, an adoring home crowd (Daniel Fletcher’s parents) and a friendly ref, it all looked promising. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.
The first 25 minutes were fairly even, with Dynamo Kingston looking to play the ball up to their big striker, or hitting the wings, and Merton playing a slightly more measured passing game. A throw was won on the right hand side, with a flick on from Daniel Fletcher reaching last year’s golden boot winner Tom up front, who took one touch to take it round the centre back, then hit it sweetly with the outside of his boot from the right hand edge of the penalty area, sailing into the top corner.
Unfortunately, they say that a team is at its most vulnerable when they have just scored, and this proved to be the case, with Kingston’s surprisingly good striker (don’t judge a book by its cover) chipping over John in the Merton goal less than a minute later. This was followed shortly after by another good finish from Kingston, leaving Merton trailing 2-1. A strong end to the half from Merton was unfortunately not enough to get another goal, but we went into half time feeling confident that we could get something from the game.
After some half time oranges, and with a couple of substitutes, the second half commenced. Unfortunately this is where it all started really going wrong. As the Soche pushed forward to try and get the equaliser, we were leaving gaps in our midfield which left the defence vulnerable, which Kingston exploited ruthlessly. Three goals in ten minutes ended any hopes of a comeback, despite a few chances, notably a sitter missed by Daniel after a great pass from Alastair.
Whilst the result can’t really be argued with, 5-1 was a very flattering result for Dynamo Kingston, which was achieved through ruthless finishing rather than overall dominance. They only had about 7 or 8 chances, but 5 of them unfortunately gave stand-in keeper John little chance. With a winnable game against Hook coming next week, the Soche will march on!
