OS Football Match Report

3 October 2015

Old Stoics 1, Old Cholmeleians 3 

A week after arguably the their best ever performance, a weak second half performance from the Old Stoics saw them lose to the Old Cholmeleians 3s. 

James Robson was back at the helm to skipper his team's visit to North London in a team that also saw Tolly Leech, Charlie Farr and Tom Wiggett make their first appearances of the season, in place of Jamie Hirst, Harry Wolrige-Gordon and Mark Thompson-Royds respectively with Luke Porritt featuring on the bench. All the pre-match rhetoric had urged the importance of every turning up on time so the Stoics could get a decent warm-up in before kick-off, however any hope of that evaporated when the man in possession of the kit, Rowling, was last to arrive barely 20 minutes before the referee's whistle.

Nonetheless after an even if slightly scrappy opening 20 minutes or so, Stowe looked to be settling into the game. And soon after there were gifted the lead when an attack from Thomas Benyon on the right led to a dangerous ball being whipped into the box, which wasn't dealt with properly and ended up being diverted into the back of net by the other Benyon, Harry.

The lead didn't last long however as a cross from Cholms right wing led to confusion between Porritt, on for Hamish Eggins, and Dom Farr and this uncertainty was pounced on by the home side's left winger who fired home with Rowling's attempted goalline clearance only scooping the ball into the roof of the net. 

The two sides were all square at the interval with the Stoics confident that a repeat of their first half performance would surely lead to some clearer opportunities for Leech up front who thus far had been feeding off scraps. The change of ends didn't bring about the positive change to Stowe's performance as the game began to degenerate further with the men in yellow and blue failing to link up as seamlessly as the previous week. However the Stoic defence had had very few attacks to deal with from the home side yet in a blink of an eye, they fell behind. Jamie Hirsch stepped out of defence to link up with Charlie Farr however his return pass only found the feet of a Cholms' midfielder who slotted the ball to his forward, who hit an expert first time lob to leave Wiggett powerless in goal.

Again Stowe looked to push on and find the equalizer with the midfield trio of Jollivet, Robson and Dom Farr overpowering their counterparts to ensure they were dominating possession. Harry Benyon had proven to be a constant threat down the left hand side in the previous week's match against Chigwell and it was from this route that Stowe were presented with a golden opportunity to score. His ball across the box evaded both Leech and the home side defence to find Thomas Benyon, fresh from two goals in the opening fixture, unmarked a few metres out. However his touch and composure deserted him as he sliced his effort wide when it looked easier to score.

That was to prove the turning point in the match as despite Stowe pushing on and working hard to create further opportunities, that final touch or pass was found wanting. And with about five minutes to go, Cholms ensured they would be taking the three points in a similar move to their opening goal. Again the ball was played in from Stowe's left hand side with the ball going over the centre-backs and towards the right side of the box where the Cholms player reacted quicker to slot home and make the final scoreline 3-1.

So two games into the season Stowe's record reads one win and one loss, a reminder of the fact the team still lacks consistency. However, this was a match that Stowe threw away rather than were convincingly outplayed by the opposition. A few basic errors cost the Old Stoics dear on Saturday but this team only requires a few minor tweaks to be able to mount a serious promotion challenge before people get too downhearted on the back of this defeat.

Currently there is no game scheduled for this weekend so the team have a fortnight to mull over what went wrong before seeking to put those things right on our first home game of the season on October 17 against Old Millhillians.

http://full-time.thefa.com/DisplayTeam.do?teamID=748704707&divisionseason=689848553

Rupert Rowling (Cobham 05)