The opening 20 mins saw very few chances from either side. Keeper Craig Francis was soon involved in keeping our goal intact. His distribution to the full backs was proving useful as we built down the flanks to penetrate the Bitton defence. An early corner was forced following a great save from the Bitton keeper and long range free kick from the versatile James Boulton just failed to hit the target. However, it was Bitton who struck first direct from a free kick and they immediately followed this up with a swift second goal to control the game. Despite some good pressure and encouragement from Captain Oli Randal we couldn’t find the reply we wanted to go into half time 2-0 down.

Changes were made in the second half to try and get back into the game. 2 very good penalty claims were turned away which at least proved were able to get in behind the defence. In our defence, both Scott Gregory and Michael Payne were very much in control as we continued to chase the game. Our reward came right at the very end of the match as a ball flicked into the box by Danny McCarthy was cleared only to James Boulton who volleyed the ball into the net. However, it was too late to save the match as we went down 2-1 to a very disappointing defeat.

There were some good performances today, particularly James Boulton, Scott Gregory and Michael Payne, but Oli Randall was awarded the trophy for his leadership and performance.