Match Report
Match Report - 09 Nov 2014, Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers beat Kings United
Rovers!
Rovers 4 – 3 Kings United
In short we missed a hatful of chances at one end, got punished with every mistake at the back at the other end, didn’t play great football in the middle of the park but still came away with the win for the first leg of this cup tie.
You could say we were extremely lucky but at the same we created so many chances, a win should really be considered the only sensible result. I would go with the latter but we can’t play as badly again and still come away with the win.
We pretty much dominated the first half but could only go in a half time with the scores at 1-1.
Godders doubled his aggregate distance of scoring touches by tapping in from 2 yards in the first half after a lovely cut back from Smudger on the byline. Smudger had been benefitting greatly from angled balls from Joyce at left back into the space behind the full back and in the yawning chasm between the 2 Kings Utd but we just couldn’t take advantage and still the ball into the onion bag.
Kings Utd equalised after G had a rare aberration, couldn’t clear the ball as he intended from the left back position and their attacker intercepted the ball on the edge of the box and finished well, high into the net. The finish left Danny with no chance.
We spoke at half time about raising our performance levels but in truth the dropped somewhat as we created less chances than the first half and were further punished by conceding 2 more goals to find ourselves 3-2 down. All before we rescued ourselves with 5 minutes to play. Our quality may not have been there but we’re a gutsy side and somehow we hung on in there.
Sunday finished with a trip to Surbiton, a total of 10 pints drunk and a shot of toffee vodka. I’m not being glib but in the excitement of the day I can’t remember a thing about how we scored our 2nd goal.
All I know is that from being 2-1 up we found ourselves 3-2 down in a very short period of time. A long ball into the box was not cleared and from the right hand side, the same Kings Utd striker took advantage of hesitancy in the box and finished smartly into the roof of the net to make it 2-2. The score was then 3-2 when their midfielder skinned someone on the left hand edge of our box and lashed the ball in with a decent finish.
The shock of being behind in a match, we should’ve been winning by a country mile, seemed to change something in our mindset and when the next chances came we took them and the match.
The lucky omen of the return of the Beast of Birch once again paid dividends for the 2nd time in 2 weeks as he capped at 30 minute man of the match cameo to give us the win.
Smudger followed up a lost cause when closing down their keeper and as the keeper p1ssed it up the Beast of Birch was there to tap home.
The Beast of Birch was then on hand to lay a great pass onto Smudger who waltzed through the centre of the Kings Utd defence and ram the ball home down the centre of the goal. In 5 minutes we had gone from 3-2 down to 4-3 up. Game won!
In summation, it was superb to see us win against a team who currently reside 2nd in the league. We sure made hard work of it though and we’ll certainly have to play much better if we are to beat them this week in the league.
10 Teams Games
Played Games
Won Games
Drawn Games
Lost Goals
For Goals
Against Goal
Difference Points
London St George
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5 4 0 1 31 7 +24 12
Kings United
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4 2 2 0 12 8 +4 8
Clapham Rovers
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3 2 1 0 8 3 +5 7
FC Selchp
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4 2 0 2 16 9 +7 6
Real Northern 'A'
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2 2 0 0 5 1 +4 6
Accrington Stanley Bowles
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3 1 1 1 7 7 +0 4
Cool Oak Rangers
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3 1 0 2 6 8 -2 3
FC Lonsdale
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3 0 1 2 4 8 -4 1
Lokomotiv Londres
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4 0 1 3 5 20 -15 1
Parthenope
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3 0 0 3 0 23 -23 0
Gladys Perry Challenge Cup
5 1 011 FC Selchp v Chiswick FC [ Round 2 - First Leg ]
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
0 3 012 Sport London Victoria v Cool Oak Rangers [ Round 2 - First Leg ]
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
7 0 013 London St George v Lokomotiv Londres [ Round 3 - First Leg ]
King's House (Civil Service) SG W4 2RZ
3 4 015 Kings United v Clapham Rovers [ Round 3 - First Leg ]
King's House (Civil Service) SG W4 2RZ
Ron Halfacre Challenge Cup
2 1 002 Invictus v Real Northern 'A' [ Round 2 - First Leg ]
Westminster Schools CR4 1DE
2 1 004 London Titans v Wessex Rangers [ Round 2 - First Leg ]
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
2 4 005 Parthenope v Accrington Stanley Bowles [ Round 2 - First Leg ]
Westminster Schools CR4 1DE
Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers 4 - 3 Kings United ()