Three Bridges Res. 3  Northwood Res. 0

Saturday 19th November 2011

Northwood Res.		Suburban League Jubilee Walk, Three Bridges, Crawley
Max Easton	1	Kick Off
Michael Williams	2	3.00 p.m.
George Holland	3	H/T
Corey Ellis	4	0-1
Shaun Wanklyn	5	Scorers
Lamin Cole	6	Northwood
Dominic Franklin	7	-
Julian Smith	8	Three Bridges
Charlie Barker	9	Alfieri 18, Mckenzie 70, Gomes 80
Yassine Fehmi-Gil	10
Conor Crossan	11
Harry Wright	12
Myles Stephenson (9)	14
Calvin Kasirye (11)	15
-	16
-	17

Northwood's back four looked much stronger this week, with the return of Corey Ellis and a debut for Shaun Wanklyn, a player with lots of first team experience. There were two more full debuts in midfield, for Conor Crossan and George Holland, who both had reasonable games. But it was Fehmi-Gill who caught the eye early on, playing as a centre forward, with his excellent movement and ball skills which tormented the home teams back four and provided Northwood with at least three good opportunities to score.

It is pleasing to see young players confident enough to pass the ball around with patience, but of course with that comes a responsibility to actually put defences under pressure and that wasn't always the case, but these players will learn. After 18 minutes a poor clearance from Crossan allowed Bridges to cross the ball and Alfieri duly despatched. Three Bridges came into the game much more following the goal and would have scored a second, if not for a wonderful reflex save from Max Easton from point blank range.

The second half saw Charlie Barker (groin strain) replaced by Myles Stephenson, and it wasn't long before his mixture of brawn and pace was causing trouble for Smoken, the right back for Bridges. In the first fifteen minutes Northwood created two one-on-ones, but weak shots from Julian Smith and Fehmi-Gil allowed the home keeper Pointon to save.

After 70 minutes Moisii, the Three Bridges substitute, was allowed too much time to cross the ball and McKenzie looped a header into the net. Five minutes later saw Crossan (cramp) replaced by new boy Calvin Kasirye, but by this time Northwood looked a tired outfit, and were defending more and more and eventually succumbed to a third, a shot from the edge of the box which was probably unstoppable.

There are, of course, disappointed Northwood players at the moment, they are stuck in a losing run, but some of the football they have played has been of a good standard and the only way to change these results is to continue to play well and not to feel sorry for themselves. Perhaps next week's cup game will see a change of fortune!