The team should be sponsored by Monopoly, the number of times this player has got them out of gaol
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Really? In which other recent games have we "got out of gaol" by chance? Were you even there tonight?
With the number of players missing and the disruption to team selection, it was a pretty decent performance on the whole. Apparently Hak (who lives at Cheshunt) had a puncture on the M25 in Essex and wasn't there, at least for the start. Horlick pulled a hamstring in training at Luton yesterday, so Barnes (who is still hampered by his knee injury) returned after 10 weeks out.
Ramsay and Hudson returned as the fullbacks, with JBW switching to centre back. We made a bright start but couldn't force the early goal and Lewes were growing into the game when they took the lead midway through the first half. Someone missed a tackle just inside our half and they broke quickly down the left before their centre forward converted a teasing cross into the six yard box.
We had a lot of the play during the middle part of the game either side of half time, but our many attacks either broke down around the box or led to shots blocked or off target. Disaster struck midway through the second half with a srcond Lewes goal that bore a remarkable resemblance to the first with a home player winning a tackle deep in his own half to initiate a a left wing breakaway that ended with a perfectly weighted cross again converted by centre forward Botti.
It briefly looked like we might cave in completely, with Lewes now well on top but some substitutions gave us a lifeline when Mills superbly converted a Wanadio corner with a near post header. Lewes rather complacently withdrew danger man Botti a minute or two before stoppage time and, with Hamlet pressing them hard in their own box, a shot blasted at a ruck of players in the goalmouth resulted in a penalty awarded for handball. The Wizard converted in spectacular fashion, firing against the underside of the bar, with the ball bouncing down and up into the roof of the net.
We still look like an erratic mid-table side that blows hot and cold, but under the circumstances I'm happy with both the performance and the result tonight. Onwards and upwards.
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