British Airways 1st XI 4 - 2 Sonning 1st XI

After a disappointing 4-4 draw against Marlow, Sonning went to an in form BA, hoping to keep things tight and give themselves the best opportunity to be the first away team this year to walk away with 3 points from this venue. They were missing key figures in Chris Hinton, Adam Pusey, and Jonny Partenheimer, and it showed in the opening exchanges.

The home side came fast out of the traps and Sonning struggled to contain their skilful opponents. More frustratingly they found themselves unable to retain possession, particularly in the centre of the pitch and up front. They found themselves 2-0 early on, and this was made all the worse when Thomas Sampson rolled his ankle badly and had to leave the pitch for the remainder.

After another reshuffle, Sonning actually started to make some good headway and worked their way back into the game as they have done so many times this season. Jonathan Sharp scored an excellent flick from a short corner won by Ian Gallagher for 2-1, and things looked more positive for a short while. This was until some individual skill undid Sonning just before the break for BA to re-extend their lead to 3-1.

Sonning upped their level once again after the break, and won themselves a penalty stroke after a short corner strike was turned off the keeper’s pads and onto the post-man’s body on the line. Gallagher converted convincingly for 3-2.

BA had a flick of their own shortly after, although probably not quite as clear cut, the BA striker hitting nothing but air on his first attempt before his follow up effort struck a Sonning defender on the foot. Nevertheless, this was converted by the BA forward, who while managing to completely scuff the flick had done enough to move Allan, and the ball bobbled harmlessly down the middle of the goal and in. Some banter in the bar was had between the two, with BA’s striker admitting that Allan had indeed guessed right with his dive, and would have actually saved it had it gone where it was intended to! Nevertheless, Sonning made sure to abuse their keeper for his misfortune.

4-2 it finished, and while Sonning had almost all the play towards the end of the match, they just couldn’t find their breakthrough and only came close on a couple of occasions. The must rally quickly if they want to stay in the promotion mix, with Bracknell at home their next fixture. #COTN

Goalscorers: Ian Gallagher, Jonathan Sharp
MOTM: Neil Pursell
DOTD: Paul Brown