Sonning 1st XI 3 – 1 Marlow 2nd XI

Since beating Staines 2s at the end of January, Sonning haven’t picked up a point in what can only be described as an unforgiving February. So they welcomed bottom of the table Marlow with some trepidation. Unsurprisingly the game began cagily, both sides were happy enough retaining possession in their own half, but showed little conviction in their attacking play. Probably the best chance in the early exchanges fell to Sonning at a penalty corner. Ian Gallagher’s strike was saved comfortably enough, but the rebound bounced up kindly to James Lockhart, who snatched at it on the volley when taking a touch could have been an option, and it crept wide of the left-post.

Sonning broke the deadlock after around 15 minutes played. Ben Johnson carried on where he left off in last week’s scrap at Oxford with some fine defensive play at left back, breaking down a promising Marlow attack. He fed Steve Ridley in the centre of the field, who in turn found Lockhart at right half. He beat his man for pace before playing a long ball down the line to the tireless Gallagher. A bit of trickery enabled him to make space for rasping cross, deflected in at the left post by Huw Thomas. A debut 1st team goal for the youngster who has worked his way up the Sonning ranks admirably in the last few years. 1-0.

Sonning pressed for a second goal, and probably continued to have the better of the play. Paul Brown and Ollie Waddington were given plenty of space to move the ball at the back, but Marlow’s sat deep and absorbed the pressure, with Sonning unwilling to commit bodies forward. Towards the end of the half, Sonning’s lead was erased, as a well-won penalty corner was converted after a scramble in the Sonning circle. 1-1 at the break.

After half time, Sonning were painfully slow out of the blocks, and really struggled to get into the game. Marlow won a series of penalty corners and Waddington was possibly lucky not see a card after a particularly heavy tackle just outside the Sonning circle. It was in this phase of play that keeper Alasdair Allan earned his crust, and man-of-the-match, with a triple save followed by a feral roar! This obviously triggered Sonning’s killer instinct, as not more than a moment later, they went straight up the other end and restored their lead. The ball was laid quickly out wide from a 16-metre hit to Sam Terry, who found Callum Richardson in the middle of the park. The ball made it's way through a couple of Sonning hands to Jack Mason, who took over with a surging run to the baseline before cutting back to Richardson, who had tracked the full length of the pitch and found himself unmarked on the top of the circle. He took one touch before unleashing a searing flick back across goal to the bottom-right. 2-1.

It was equally simple for the third goal just a few minutes later. Matt Sloper played a long ball from deep in his own half, and found Lockhart high on the left wing, who drove to the baseline and picked out David Painter with his cut-back. Painter drew his man in, then found Gallagher, who’s first time strike was well saved but only back into Lockhart’s path who had the simple task of putting Gallagher in for a tap-in with the keeper out of play. 3-1.

With the result almost decided, the match petered out towards the end. Sonning were content to make themselves hard to break-down, and retain possession when necessary. So it finished 3-1, with Sonning probably the deserved winners on the day. It leaves them in 9th place and out of the relegation positions for the first time in several months. With a few tough matches left this season, there is still a chance that come next season they could still find themselves in MBBO 1.

Up next – a tough away fixture at league leaders Oxford Hawks who have dropped just 7 points all season.

Goalscorers: Ian Gallagher, Callum Richardson, Huw Thomas
MOTM: Alasdair Allan
DOTD: Ian Gallagher