With a good win under our belts from the previous week, the Reserves traveled to second place Frogpool with an appetite to continue the good form. Frogpool had somewhat given us a good thrashing back at Polstain Park earlier in the year and it was my hope that we could redress the balance between the two sides. As manager I was looking for a performance more than a result although a draw or a win would have been nice but with the squad containing six youngsters and top scorer Elliot Jolly away on international duty in Mexico with his other half, I knew that it was going to be tough to grind a result from a side who had beaten the leaders a week earlier by two goals to one. I had decided before the match that with the youngster in the side the best form of defense was to attack utilising their pace.

The game began with us pushing forward and we really should have been two goals to the good within the first 15 minutes of the game but Tregenna and Bright both missed good opportunities to open the scoring for us. As usual we saw the opposition score first with a free kick which curled over the wall into the bottom left hand corner; however the ball would not have found the net if Gavin “whoops Mrs Miggins don’t let that nasty ball hit me” Counter had not ducked. Although I was a little upset by this action the team responded well and again the equaliser should have come but unfortunately the Frogpool keeper was having one of those days, combine that with some shoddy finishing, and I was beginning to get a little bit frustrated and so was the dog. As the half progressed Frogpool using the slope, managed to put together one or two good attacks but like ourselves did not use the opportunity to double their tally. Eventually they found the net straight from a corner when our young goalkeeper misjudged the flight of the ball, and could only palm the ball into the roof of the net as he stretched backwards, harsh on the lads but flukes happen now and again to even to the most experienced goalkeepers (David Seaman to name one). Both I and Buster were beginning to get a little agitated and prowled the touch line, muttering as we did. Once again the lads came back at Frogpool and the pressure began to build, then Bright was hurled to the ground inside the penalty area by one of the home sides’ defenders whilst trying to meet a cross from Tregenna his strike partner, the referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot. David Hill stepped forward with confidence and for the second week running found the bottom corner of the goal. Buster had a rest as the pacing stopped for a while, as a rye smile returned to my face. With the goal spurring us on we began to dominate and with five minutes left of the first half Tom Moore scored the equaliser from a tight angle after the Frogpool keeper could only parry a shot from Tregenna across his goal area. Half time came and I felt that the team had the belief that they could actually win the game, although I pointed out to them that we do not always start of the quickest in the second half, so concentration was the order of the day from the kick off. I knew if they played as well as they did in the first half that they could produce a shock.

The second half saw the team pen back the home side and the first 30 minutes saw Frogpool have the odd incursion into our half, yet again some outstanding goalkeeping and poor finishing saw the score stay level. As time pressed I knew that we had to score or we would pay for it. As with most football matters I was right as we paid the piper when a collision between the excellent Weir and our left winger Counter saw the ball break to the Frogpool front man who whipped a cross into the front post, his strike partner reacted quickest and met it with his head, Carlyon managed to get a hand to the header but it rebounded of the post into the goal. I had already made one substitution earlier for the injured Butler, but with this bitterest pill to swallow and only 7 minutes left on the clock I throw on my remaining subs and switched the formation to three four three. Yet again the team showed character and pressed causing havoc in the home sides defense but it stood firm, as before Frogpool had to thank their keeper for keeping their lead. As the team pressed forward and with seconds remaining, a punt over the top of our defense saw the home sides forward out pace David “not quite 100 metres in 10 seconds” Hill and he fired home Frogpool’s fourth, which flattered the second place team. With this the final whistle blew with the final score finishing four two to Frogpool.

Even though we had been beaten in the end I could not praise the side enough for their commitment and character, they out played Frogpool for large parts of the game but came up short when that killer instinct was required, however, this was still a superb performance which warrants a NINE out of ten, if we had won, it would have been a maximum TEN.

Man of the Match: Tom Moore.

Richard Luff, Manager