We’ve had quite a week of ups and downs, in that order. A week we can learn a lot from. First up was Southampton, at the Pan. They put out a pretty strong reserve side, which means a lot when you’re talking about Southampton. They’ve got a very good youth scheme going there, and their reserves pretty much always win the league they’re in.
They caught us cold in the first couple of minutes. A cross came in, a good cross to be fair, from Jake Thompson, which got behind our defence. The keeper didn’t come for it, it hit their striker’s shin, and went into the bottom corner.
It was pretty even for a bit after that, and that should have been reflected in the half-time score. Juke Box put in a perfect cross on 40 minutes, and Boothy only had to nod it into the net to score. It was one of those ones which are too easy: he headed it back the way it came. It wasn’t a great night for Boothy, who went on to miss a penalty in the second half, in a period during which we absolutely dominated the game. We camped in their half, playing some lovely football, but just couldn’t convert the pressure into a goal. The sucker punch came in the seventieth minute: they caught us on the break, and their striker cut in, and surprised the keeper at his near post, which he won’t be very pleased with.
Next up, West Ham, and a crowd of at least 1500 at the Pan, including loads of West Ham fans. It was a hard, well-contested first half, with tackles flying in from both sides. I had a couple of trialists up front for the first half, and I brought Boothy and Craig O’Connor on in the second. Boothy missed another sitter, when he headed a Wormull cross into the side-netting when the goal was gaping. But he made up for it later on, when he got another chance from another cross, and this time he directed it between the posts, to everyone’s relief.