3rd Xl - Balanced game is a foggy affair

Holcombe 4a XI 1 : 1 Sutton Valence 3rd Xl

Balanced game is a foggy affair
Playing their second game in 4 days, Sutton Valence travelled to Holcombe for a night time fixture under the floodlights. With everyone managing to get to the ground in time from work, Sutton Valence had hopes of taking all 3 points in the fixture.
Play was pretty even across both teams early on, but neither had the cutting edge to take the lead until Holcombe broke 20 minutes into the half. Valence were caught out defensively with players not being picked up properly in the D. It was the first real Holcombe attack and Valence conceded an easy goal. Not deterred being 1 down, they started to take the game by the scruff of the neck and dominated play for the rest of the half. Their pressure paid off with a short corner being awarded as the halftime whistle was blown. With 10 men surrounding the D, now was the time to score. With the short corner being reset 4 times for a foot in the D, it was fifth time lucky when Chris Sheldon slipped a pass at the top of the D to Stuart Edmed, who found Captain Mark Whitmill open in front of the keeper for a simple tap in. The goal drew the half to an end.
During half time the weather started to take a turn for the worse, with fog gathering and as the half progressed so did the thickness of fog. The second half was mainly dominated by long passages of play from SV, who had found another gear in the game. They had numerous chances on goal, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Play in the final 10 minutes was difficult due to visibility, which stifled any long balls from either side. The game finished 1-1, but Sutton Valence felt they had had the edge in the game, but couldn’t find that elusive final goal to take all 3 points.
MoM: Reuben Collingwood for his excellent distribution of the ball, along with his work-rate throughout the game.
Scorers: Mark Whitmill

Team: Stewart Young, Mark Whitmill, Ben Tragett, Chris Sheldon, Dylan Queen, James Willmott, Andy Devlin, Stuart Edmed, Alex Hodges, Reuben Collingwood, Rob Bray, Chris Stille & Tom Harris.
Umpire: A Wishart