6-Jan
: Newbury Forest 0 v 5 Collier Row Seniors
Now when they say football is a funny old game, they must have this type of game in mind. Memories of Newcastle putting 5 past a Man United side or England beating Germany 5-1 in Munich. Now when you’re on the winning side it’s a great team performance and everybody is extremely happy and glad about their performance. It’s very different when you on the other side of that result. I’m sure Germany looked at the result and thought “we didn’t play that bad”. I’m sure Ferguson had a bit of a go at his players, but I’m sure he didn’t lay into them as they played quite well, it just wasn’t their day.
Today’s result is one of those you put up as a bit of a freak, but nevertheless it happened and it cannot be taken too lightly. These games are always tough as the two teams know each other so well and know the strengths and weaknesses. They know that we are good at keeping the ball and moving it around quickly, whereas they are good at set pieces and counter attack quickly.
This was the story of the first half, we kept the ball well and were patient in our build up play and created chances but didn’t take them. We then got hit by two set pieces, that we didn’t deal with and a break away counter goal, this should have been stopped due to a foul on the half way line, but hey when things are against you, your not going to get those decisions. So 3-0 down, but we still felt we were in the game. It shows the belief the team has in its quality.
As the second got under way we continued to push for that first goal that would start the revival, as the half wore on the chances were created but not taken. More and more men were piled forward; subsequently we got caught on the break late on by another two goals. Now the many will look at the result and say we must have been awful, but from watching the game you will know that it was a lot closer than the score line suggests. There is still one more encounter to take place this season, so revenge is still possible.
Starting Line Up:

Now for the ratings
Graham “Newbury’s No1” Tritton GK
Was constantly under pressure on set pieces, but did his best under the pressure. 6/10
Jon “Play me anywhere” Galligan RB
Captain for the day and gave a captain’s performance, always encouraging and wanting the ball. Never let his effort drop for the 90. 7/10
Kye “Daddy” Braithwaite CB
Another good leader on the pitch, always looked calm on the ball. Kept on going despite score line. 7/10
Toch “Most skilful centre back I’ve seen” Singh CB
Played out of position but did a good job, learnt a lot quickly and did well against good forwards. 7/0
Tom “Moaner” Starling LB
Bit of a quiet game for the welsh wonder, got forward okay but didn’t have his dazzling delivery as he normally does. 6/10
Andy “Rocky” Lane DM
Worked hard in midfield, always battling but had touches of quality that showed he’s on its way back 7/10
Brad “Holding B” Gates AM
Grew into the game as it wore on, had a good partnership with Laney in midfield. 7/10
Dan “If it bleeds we can kill it” Chester AM
Blood and thunder as always, work rate was second to know. Had a hard task in trying to link the play up. 6/10
Jey “Sort that hair out” Siva WL
Had more joy when he went looking for the ball, but sometimes that meant we didn’t have him out wide. 7/10
Andy “Newbury’s No14” Saunders CF
Worked his socks of, but didn’t really get much to work with. 6/10
Dave “Nothing, nothing” Ademakinwa WR
Worked hard but didn’t really get a chance to go at his defender. 6/10
Subs
Tom “Bad boy is back” Gibbings AM
Came on as if he was Cesc, helped us control the game more in the second half. 7/10
Joe “Cut your hair” Mariani WR
Came on and tried to get at his full back, but needed a bit more of the ball. 6/10
Alfie “Manager for the day” Egembah
Difficult game to come onto as the team were losing heavily, but had a couple of half chances. 6/10
Man of the Match
Andy Lane