Rotherfield Raiders (5) Wokingham & Embrook (0)

A level playing field ?

With two defeats in their first two matches the Raiders had a psychological hill to climb. And in the first half they had a physical one to climb as well. The pitch was hard, the goal mouth rutted and a north-south slope that certainly was not a level playing field.

The Raiders started strongly with Mark scoring an early goal in the first three minutes. With their tails up the team played with great structure, vision and purpose. Passing between Josh, Mark, Max and Rowan was accurate and the play flowed although a couple of offside decisions went against them.

But it was not all Raiders and the score line disguised a much closer game. Wokingham pressed for much of the latter period of the first half and there was some strong defending by Matty, Kai , Sam and Will.

Ben scored the second goal with a great run around the keeper finishing with his weaker left foot. Goal number three came again off a Ben strike which hit the post and was bundled over the line by Guy.

3-0 at half time and the difference between the two sides was that Rotherfield had taken their chances in attack and defended well.

In the second half the Raiders had the benefit of that hill! There was some good distribution from Rowan and some strong runs by Josh, Kit and Chris. A few speculative long range kicks ended with a lob from Mark after a great through ball from Matty. The final goal came from Guy after a through ball from Max. Numerous brave saves again from Liam ensured a clean sheet.

Sam was awarded man of the match for a strong performance and for applying skills taught in training.

Sam Booker, Kai Carlisle, Matthew Chapman, Josh Gay, Kit Greengrass, Chris Miller, Liam Peachey, Ben Piersen-Hagger, Mark Spruyt, Rowan Stacey, Max Sweetman, Guy Thurlow, Will Young