Sonning 1st XI 1 – 3 South Berkshire 1st XI

A late consolation goal from James Manser was all Sonning were able to take from a disappointing clash at the Doom Bar arena, with a combative but ultimately disjointed performance ending in defeat against local rivals South Berkshire 1st XI.

The game started evenly in open play, but with Sonning creating far more of the chances, looking especially dangerous on the break. Ian Gallagher in particular looked sharp, and created several shooting opportunities for himself, albeit without being able to supply that killer blow to break the deadlock.

South Berks took a 0-1 lead, just before half time, with a disappointing short corner conceded. Neil Pursell was judged to have kicked the ball in the D, when it looked far more like a glove had made contact. However, the short corner was given and converted, despite Pursell getting some stick on the straight strike, the ball was hit hard enough to find the bottom left corner.

In truth, the home side never really recovered from this blow, and after half time went two further goals down in very quick succession, after a few minutes of uncharacteristically error-strewn play.

To their credit, they stuck to task, and in the last quarter they kept their visitors honest with James Manser deflecting in from a driven through ball from James Lockhart, after a smartly taken free hit caught their opponents on the back foot.

However, ultimately this was little more than a consolation – and now Sonning find themselves sat disappointingly mid-table after 7 games. Next up will be a character testing away trip to Banbury 2s. #COTN

Goalscorer: James Manser
MOTM: Ben Sully
DOTD: Neil Pursell