The bleary-eyed 2nd XI awoke early to a notably fine Kentish morning and, having won 4 games on the bounce, were undoubtedly brimming with enthusiasm for their end-of season excursion to Deal Sandwich. Skipper Nick Hall, in accordance with season-long custom, presented the lost toss as a victory and Sutton Valence duly faced into the now not-so-glorious, in point of fact blindingly strong sunshine and pushed back.

The opening exchanges were rather tentative, with both sides giving far too much space and time to their opponents, but after 10 minutes or so Sutton Valence began to gain in confidence and sought to move the ball more quickly, with a commendable – and for the 2’s somewhat unusual – willingness to switch play across the pitch. Unfortunately this was often coupled with a strange inability to pass the ball even remotely close to the end of the receiving stick which rather limited SV’s ability to move towards the opposition goal. Some sloppy moments saw keeper Mackay – who’s size was memorably remarked upon by one of the umpires on more than one occasion – called into action more than we would really have liked, but he rose to the challenge, notably putting his helmet between the ball and goal on one occasion in what would later prove to be a fine performance from start to finish. A brief moment of opportunity for Sutton Valence arrived late in the first half with the game up to this point seemingly deadlocked as an SV surge down the right and some scrambled Deal defending saw the ball break loose to Robinson at the top of the D. Who then slashed a shot lamentably wide of the right hand post. Unfortunately this had a galvanising effect on the opposition who shortly afterwards dashed down their right wing and slashed a shot across goal which took an unfortunate deflection of Trag’s stick on its way to leave Mackay helpless to intervene.

Shortly thereafter the half time whistle duly blew with the visitors trailing 1-0. Generally agreed that we had on balance had the better of the first half despite the unusually wayward passing, and there was all to play for in the second half.

SV emerged strongly from the break with noticeably sharper passing and began asking tougher questions of the Deal midfield and back line, with probing moves across the full width of the pitch. A brief lapse in concentration saw Deal breaking down the left and smashing a shot at Mackay, who went truly above and beyond the call of duty in this time using his other helmet to defend the visitor’s goal. Once both his and the sympathetic tears of SV and Deal players alike had dried the game recommenced with SV again in the ascendency. Some sharp passing saw Tragett, Wilson, Blanchard and Sheldon Junior having repeated success moving snappily down the right flank and a neat cross landed sweetly on the end of Robinson’s stick roughly in line with the left post. With heady thoughts of individual glory swirling, he somehow noticed (with no small amount of disappointment) that Thompson was in a splendid position on the opposite post and reluctantly snapped the ball to Dazzler who calmly lifted the ball into the right hand side of the Deal net. All square then with around 20 minutes left on the clock, with Valence clearly showing renewed enthusiasm to push for a fifth consecutive victory and, in this author’s opinion, by and large having the better of the remaining play.

Deal, to their credit, continued to probe the SV backline and, seven minutes or so from time, a swift move down their left flank saw the ball injected crisply into the left side of the Valence D. In a rather scrappy passage of play the long barrier of Parker and sticks of Wilson and Blanchard were repeatedly tested but remained unwavering. Eventually however the stick skills and determination of the Deal number 7 aided by a deft assist from the stick of Willson won through, and this time there was nothing that Mackay’s helmets could do to resist.

Whilst obviously disappointed, Sutton Valence kept their heads up and set about trying to level the game once again, attacking in repeated waves as full time approached, and ended the game very much in the ascendency once again. With a minute to play Robinson absolutely baffled the opposition No. 22 with an uncharacteristically clean pick leaving the left flank at his mercy. Unfortunately the umpire was anticipating Robinson’s usual agricultural-grade tackle and put an end to the glorious flowing run that would have no doubt resulted with a sharply blown whistle. Robinson’s genuine and expletive-free surprise was not at all well received by said umpire and resulted in an immediate yellow card despite his – admittedly atypically – clean play throughout the match. With the final whistle going shortly thereafter he will now have to spend the first nine minutes of the 25/26 season contemplating how deliciously sweet that tackle was and wondering about what might have been.

Thus ended a season of two halves for the SV 2nd XI. A terrible opening half was followed by an astonishing rejuvenation over the Christmas break. Commendable team spirit was maintained throughout however, which gave rise to a really strong second half of the season with our place in SE Invicta Division 5 maintained, and growing confidence for 25/26.

MOM: Ross Mackay
Report By: Alistair Robinson

Team:
Ross Mackay
Nick Hall
Olly Sheldon
Steve Parker
Zak Blanchard
Tom Willson
Ben Tragett
Alistair Robinson
Darren Thompson
Chris Sheldon
Chris Stile
Duncan Wills

Goal: Darren Thompson