Sonning Mens 3rd XI vs Wootton Wanderers 1st XI

Sonning 3rd XI's first game of the season involved a journey taking almost as long as it took to publish this match report. Their first opponents Wootton Wanderers were a new team, still finding their position in the MBBO and based in Northampton. Using a convoy involving almost as many cars as players the Sonning team made their way up the M1 to get their 2016 league campaign started with only a few stops for food, petrol and kegs of beer temporarily halting the advance.

As the game started the opponents quickly came out of the blocks and Sonning realised they need to switch on asap. Some good passing from Wooton caught Sonning unaware and allowed a pass to a Wooton attacker in the middle to slot it past Sonning's keeper.

Sonning knew they needed to put on the pressure now and started to move the ball around better, allowing the ball to do the work. Some great runs up front and excellent work from Toon in the middle allowed Sonning to start building pressure on the Wooton defence. A break from Wooton on the left side quickly made its way up the pitch and with Sonning on the back foot allowed the Wooton team to put together some passes in the D and despite a strong save from Sonning's keeper a scramble on the goal-line resulted in the ball somehow managing to dribble across the line. 2-0.

With Sonning now fired up possession returned to the Sonning team but with time in the first half running out Wooton managed to gain another short corner and a strong strike from the top made the result 3-0.

Half time involved some serious strategy talk with our Glorious Leader providing some much needed insight to get the team back to top form. Making better use of our wings, creating more movement up front and defending on both sides of the pitch were the instructions and with some Haribo in our bellies the team were ready to get back to action.

The second half was a much better game for the Sonning team, the advice at half time immediately started to show benefit as Ian Ta made some excellent moves in left midfield and suddenly the tide looked to be turning on Wooton. Consistent pressure from Sonning resulted in several short corners. The Sonning team continued to rain down shots on the Wooton back line with a clearance ending up at the top of the D for our Glorious Leader to receive and cannonball it straight in to the back of the goal. Sonning knew they had it in them to take control of the game and maintained most of the pressure in the second half. Another breakaway from Wooton managed to get past the Sonning defence and a pass to the back post allowed Wooton their last goal of the game.

Lots of positives to take out of the game and lots to work on for Sonning's next game against Aylesbury, this time back at Sonning Fortress.