SHC team:

2ndXI

League

South Open Middx, Berks, Bucks & Oxon – Regional

SHC captain:

Steve Dixon

Match date/Loc:

29th September 2007    -  HOME

Opposition team

West Hampstead 3rd XI

Final Score:

Slough 1-1 West Hampstead

Scorers and time:

1-0   Anil Mavar (17 mins)

1-1 West Hampstead

Man of the Match:

Jassi Benawra

First-half

 

Summary: Jassi Benawra dazzles in defense but Slough fail to hold on to their lead as West Hampstead take a point with a last gasp equaliser.

 

 

Slough started their league campaign with a close contest against the side placed 2nd in the league last season.  Slough started well with Ameet Gill and Kieran Sandhu forming a good partnership down the right and Gurdeep Benawra performing well in his unfamiliar inside left role. 

 

Slough opened the scoring with their third short corner, Anil Mavar pushing in from short range. Slough should then have added to their total when another corner was almost put away by Naveed, but the West Hampstead keeper made a good save having closed him down well.

 

West Hampstead had a couple of short corner chances, 2 of which were saved on the line by Jassi Benawra, but generally Slough dominated the first period and threatened to extend their lead on a couple of occasions.

 

 

Second-half

 

In the second half, Slough increasingly found difficulty getting the ball to their forwards and then holding it there.  This lead to West Hampstead dominating the midfield and although they did not have that many chances they ended up with all the possession. Late in the game they hit the crossbar from a shot from the right and finally scored when Slough were penalised for not retreating the full 5 meters for a free hit outside the D, John Lea unable to keep the ball out this time. To be fair West Hampstead deserved the equaliser and although slough were disappointed to lose the 3 points they were happy to settle for the draw  in the end

 

Sloughs defence played superbly throughout the second half with Jassi Benawra leading the effort but ably assisted by Anil Mavar and John Lea in his first game in goal for the 2ndXI having worked up from the 4th XI since last season.  Lea made a number of important saves in an impressive debut.

 

Although Slough were solid in defence they had problems moving forward. With two debutants (Khalid and Naveed) on the wings there was always going to be integration problems and although there is clearly great potential, it will take time for the team to work with them effectively. I am sure they will soon be tormenting defences with their pace and ball control. Some tiredness was evident in midfield and the 2nd half performances, though good, were not as strong as the first half.

 

All in all a promising start to the season, with important injured players to come in, and much better than last season against a strong opposition.

 

Team:  John Lea, Kieran Sandhu, Jassi Benawra, Anil Mavar, Mark Brown, Ameet Gill, Steve Dixon, Gurdeep Benawra, Naveed, Inder Poonaji, Khalid

Other notes/comments: next game  Sunbury AWAY