Southgate County 1 - 0 Southgate Olympic

Southgate County 1 – 0 Southgate Olympic
(Mason)

Southgate faced a LOB Cup first round game against the unbeaten leaders of the division above us. Having lost to their fourth team 2 – 1 in the league last week it was fair to say this was a tough draw.

We started brilliantly straight from kick off…Mason just ran with the ball from the centre circle and blistered past half the Olympic team down the right before delivering an excellent cross which unfortunately no-one could get on the end of. We continued to press and pressurise Olympic and were really playing well, patiently building from the back and using our pace to exploit the Olympic defence going forward. Fifteen minutes in and Mason was unlucky not give us the lead when a great improvised shot from 25 yards was tipped wide by the Olympic keeper. Five minutes later though and we did have the lead; Mason picked the ball up fully 40 yards from goal and spotting the Olympic keeper slightly off his line hit a fantastic lob that the back-peddling keeper couldn’t keep out. Five minutes later and Bellinger should have done better with a back-post header. We continued to play well and another great run and cross from Mason saw James Thirgood hit over from close range. Ten minutes before half time an accidental clash saw one of the Olympic forwards go down with a head injury. The long break seemed to disrupt us and we had a sloppy end to the half but saw it out to go in one up.

The second half was the complete opposite to the first. Olympic came out firing and plied relentless pressure on us. The first twenty minutes of the half was a complete onslaught but we defended stoutly as a team with numerous great last ditch tackles, blocks and headers. We changed the formation and this calmed things down a little. With twenty minutes to go Olympic hit the cross bar with a great effort from 25 yards. We were now starting to get the odd chance to seal the game on the break and with ten minutes to go great skill from Mason on the left saw him cut inside and hit a curler from 25 yards that came off the stanchion of cross-bar and post and fly across the goal line…so unlucky. We continued to stay committed in defence and made a number of crucial tackles and interceptions. Arnold created a chance for himself five minutes from the end but his shot flew wide of the far post. The game finished 1 – 0.

This really was a game of two halves. In the first we were almost perfect; solid in defence, building from the back and showing confidence on the ball, pressing high up the pitch and using our pace going forward. In the second we had to really dig in and shown our resilience and some of the defending was absolutely outstanding. A great win against a team playing at a higher level. Many candidates for man of the match including Spackers, Julian and Mason who were all excellent but the vote went to Ryan in goal whose handling and all round game was superb throughout, under extreme pressure at times. That said this was the ultimate team performance.