SONNING 1 - 1 WOKINGHAM
8th September 2007

And as the long awaited/dreaded start of the league season fast approaches the first of the fourth teams pre-season friendly's was played this weekend. A good selection of brand new and familiar faces descended upon Cantley Park to challenge the decidedly more experienced (old) Wokingham team (for once our average age was better than the opo's).

After arriving at the pitch and warming up, Wokingham started the match with a generous push to the Sonning "All Stars". From the start it was quite obvious that we were the dominant team and during the opening 15 minutes it was only luck and some fantastic saves from the goalkeeper that kept the game scoreless.

The next spell of play was a little less one sided with Wokingham managing to make an occasional break, however solid defending from both sides continued to keep the scores level.

In the dying moments of the first half Wokingham tried to claw a lead but our stiff resistance prevailed, resulting in a Sonning break down the right wing which was only cut sort by the umpire's (Flec) untimely whistle ...

The second half, which was to provide Sonning with probably our toughest competition of the match, started with a spell of relatively even play. Both sides were embroiled in end to end breaks and counters, one of which lead to Wokingham gaining the lead. This 1 - 0 deficit saw Sonning heads go down temporally giving the opo a short spell in charge of the game.

It wasn't long however, before we came to our senses and realised that we should retake the initiative in the game. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts we found our way thought their defence giving Mike Bailey the chance to pounce of a rebounded shot from Matt Price and neatly chip it over the keeper into the back of the net.

Play continued in this manner until the final whistle but unfortunately we couldn't capitalise on our regained control the game which ended in an amicable 1 - 1 draw.

The goal scorer this week was: Mike Bailey, with the assist from Matt Price. Man of the Match goes to Kevin Mist for a solid defensive role and finally the first Dick of the Day for the season goes to Tim Hill, rumour has it he stopped for a bit of shopping at the Oracle on the way to game and missed the meet ...

H Jnr