Albion vs West Wickham

This was the last match before Easter, and very exciting it was too.

Peter Appleby takes up the story.

Tandridge League Youth Football League B Under 10’s

Redhill Albion vs West Wickham A 28/03/10

Both sides had attacks in the opening minutes with Smart gaining an early corner and Case-Green pulling off a fine save.

In the 6^th minute O’Donovan set up a chance for Senior which was saved by the goal keeper.

West Wickham were showing why they are second in the league, but Redhill was resolute in defence with Smart, Sowton and Meldrum working hard protecting their goal.

In the 16^th minute, Redhill took the lead when Senior played a ball out to Williams on the wing and Williams used his speed to get to the edge of the box fired an unstoppable shot in the top left hand corner of the net.

2 minutes later Senior laid another ball to Williams who rifled a similar shot but this time the goal keeper made the save.

This goal fired up Wickham who laid siege to the Redhill goal for the remainder of the first half with “lad of the match” Meldrum, outstanding in defence.

Just before half time Redhill made a rare foray into the Wickham half and some neat interplay between Williams, Hickman and Stevens almost led to a second goal for Redhill.

On the stroke of half time Wickham hit the post with a header but when the whistle blew Redhill were still in front.  

Within a minute of the restart Wickham were level with a shot from inside the box.

Redhill needed to “steady the ship” as the defence was kept busy. In the 7^th minute the ball was pinging around the box and hit the post but somehow Redhill kept the ball out.

But in the 9^th minute a long ball put the Wickham attacker through and he made no mistake with his shot to put Wickham in front.

Lewer had come on at half time and was giving a solid defensive performance at the back. Stevens was helping out at the back and Case-Green was putting in another great shift in goal.

Having withstood further attacks from Wickham, Redhill started coming back into the game in the last 5 minutes of the match. Appleby floated a cross into the box but it was just too high for Senior who put the header over the bar.

In the 47^th minute Williams played a ball to O’Donovan on the right wing who flighted a superb ball into the box and this time Senior kept his header down to score Redhill’s equaliser. Every Redhill player including the goal keeper rushed to congratulate Senior.

The last 3 minutes were tense but Redhill held on to gain a well deserved draw against one of the best teams in the league.

 Final goal scored by Ben Senior for Redhill Albion

Final Score: Redhill Albion 2 (Williams,Senior) West Wickham 2