Amazing Fightback, Not Quite Enough

CFY 3-5 Winchester B
Pre-Season Friendly – 6th September 2007

In a game of two halves, this mid-week friendly saw a close game settled in the end by a narrow margin.

CFY will be delighted with the way they fought back in the second half after being largely outplayed in the first, conceding three soft goals.

Ford began brightly however, and probably should have taken the lead well before Winchester opened the scoring.

Probably against the run of play, the visitors were awarded a penalty and this ultimately changed the game from that moment to put Winchester on the front foot.

Michael Sawbridge took the legs of their forward just inside the area, with the referee left no choice but to point to the spot. From the kick, the ball was fired to Lee’s right and into the bottom corner for 0-1.

It got worse for Chandlers Ford as Winchester made the most of their opponents dropping their heads.

A cross coming into the CFY penalty area moments later, saw a well guided header find the back of the net as Winchester stretched their advantage to two goals.

Just before the break, a quick attack saw the Winchester forward break free, before slotting past the advancing keeper.

HALF TIME: CFY 0-3 Winchester B

Winchester continued where they left off finding a fourth goal through a well stuck volley from the right hand side, though it was all about Chandlers Ford in the second half in their superb comeback that deserved a whole lot more.

At four goals down, it appeared the home side were down and out – full credit for the way they worked their way back into the match.

It came with a thunderbolt of a strike to get the ball rolling. Michael Sawbridge stepping up to fire an unbelievable finish into the top corner from way out, past the halfway line, as the centre half was quickest to react to a clearance from a Josh Harragan long throw.

This was a huge relief for CFY and gave them tremendous hope to push on from there, and this is exactly what they did, with tremendous all round effort.

Jozef Montigue helped to pull another back within a matter of minutes. Sawbridge’s dangerous corner from the right made it’s way to the back post and was met by a brave header under pressure from Montigue who got in behind his marker to nod home from close range, bringing the scores even closer.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Montigue continued an excellent second half performance to get CFY to within one goal of being level. A Harragan throw was never dealt with by the Winchester back line, allowing the superb Tom Pope; who was nothing short of exceptional since coming on at the break, to back heel the ball cleverly into the path of Montigue. Joe needed no second invitation as he blasted a fine effort into the top corner from the edge of the area for his second of the match.

Even getting to this stage was a credit to all of the players, but unfortunately the equaliser didn’t come, despite the best efforts.

Ford dictated all the play and pinned their opponents back with chances from Pope, Wall and Beattie all coming close.

A late free kick from Sawbridge out on the right came within a whisker of squaring things up, which would have been a fair reflection on the game had it gone in. It wasn’t to be as the fine long shot brushed sidenetting.

Right in the final few stages, CFY’s tremendous second half display may not have been enough to win the game, but will give every confidence for the season ahead and many positives can be taken from this.

With virtually the last kick of the game, Winchester were awarded a free kick for a foul by David Smith and from it, the visitors found the top corner with a top drawer effort.

Well done all of you, for a tremendous battling performance and for the attitude shown to play your way back into contention.

Men of the match, Tom Pope and Joe.

FULL TIME: CFY 3-5 Winchester B