Sonning 1XI 2 - 0 Aylesbury 1XI

Coming back from a week off and a hard fought win over Oxford Hawks two weeks ago, Aylesbury made the trip to Fortress Sonning.
The game started off at a fast pace with several attacks coming from Aylesbury utilising the speed from their front 3. However they couldn’t convert their chances thanks to the strong Sonning defence.

Our fast restarts opened up Aylesbury and the pin point accuracy of our left and right backs, Matt Sloper and Sam Terry, helped to carve through the space taking the ball directly to the opposition’s defensive third. With the fast pace now being turned against them this exposed the holes within Aylesbury’s defence.

What Aylesbury weren’t expecting to face was a defender being given the opportunity to play as a forward. A few within the team saw this as an odd choice by the captain but he had made his mind up and hoped it would pay off. Jonty Rider made his debut upfront ready to create chaos within the Aylesbury defence.

With the ball continually being slotted up the line, chances were created with the interlinking play between the forwards but mistakes were being made to scupper these. A few short corner chances also went begging.
Finally with the unpredictable Jonty Rider being upfront he was given the opportunity to beat one defender, play the ball onto his reverse and somehow manage to bounce the ball over the sliding Aylesbury keeper for his first ever Sonning goal. 1-0 Sonning.

However down the other end of the pitch it wasn’t all going to plan for one player. An event that Ben Allday won’t want to remember sealed his fate as DoD. While attempting to collect and clear the ball from our own baseline, he manages to trip himself and in the act of falling over throw his stick off the pitch. After picking himself up to regain his dignity and collect his stick the ball was rolling slowly off the side. It looked like time had stopped still for him but yet it got away from him.

The second half was much the same with Sonning opening up Aylesbury with accurate line balls feeding the forwards to exploit the space that Aylesbury left them. The keeper did well to keep them in the game with the number of chances being created from all angles.
A driving run from Colm Hanlon down the baseline broke down their defence once again, giving Jonty another opportunity to slot another one home for Sonning. While the goal may not have been pretty it still gave Sonning a 2-0 which was deserved.

Sonning then started to make it hard for themselves giving possession away in our own half allowing Aylesbury to get chances on goal. Thankfully the defensive back four held it together for the remaining minutes of the game with notable saves from Ben Sully keeping the clean sheet dream alive.

The decision had paid off for the masterminded skipper behind the audacious plan to put a defender upfront. Full time 2-0 Sonning.

MoM – Jonty Rider
DoD – Ben Allday