RYMAN PREMIER DIVISION | Att : 585
Walton & Hersham – 0 Sutton United – 2 [Arkour [76] [85]
Oh God, what a week. After the frustration of Tuesday, then to euphoria of Thursday, this particular little encounter was always going to be somewhat laboured! And so it proved to be. If the players had put away as much beer as I had since 10pm Thursday night, then they’d have needed the use of the little publicised EU Alka-Seltzer mountain just to wake up Saturday morning, let alone play another game.
U’s run out to chants of ‘Champions, Champions..’ but they play like anything but champs! Walton start brightly, desperately requiring the 3 points themselves to drag their struggling Swan carcasses away from the drop zone, obviously looking to take advantage of the boys hangover. Despite the home sides hustle & bustle, it’s the U’s who create the first opening. Mark Watson runs clear of the home defence and just as he’s about to shoot a desperate last ditch tackle by a recovering full back denies him. Sammy Winston looks to the heavens as he’d got into a good position & maybe his partner should have
squared it. Walton continue to threaten but seem to lack a real finisher up front to put the final touch onto some decent approach play. Sutton create a couple of more chances, but both Winston & Watson are unable to get a firm contact in front of goal.
The second half fails to rise above the ‘entertainment’ provided in the first, with Walton pushing hard for the points and U’s threatening , but unable to finish. Then an unbelieveable thing happens. We make a treble substitution! Yes! Three players changed at once!! Naz, Rowlands & Nko come on and soon these extra attacking options give us the edge. Soon after their arrival a Sammy Winston header is nodded off the line with the ‘keeper beaten.
With about quarter of an hour to play the assembled (and quite possibly just as hungover as me!) throng have something to cheer. Sammy Winston steams down Waltons left flank and whips the ball over straight onto the forehead on our favourite Franco-Algerian import and the ball loops over Preddie in the home goal and into the net. Off goes Naz on his now familiar ‘Arms-outstretched-in-a-Ronaldo-kind-of-way’ celebration.
Now behind, our hosts step up their search for a goal, but their efforts unfortunately prove friutless and Naz finishes ’em with 5 minutes left. This time the cross comes from the opposite side and this time the Frenchmans header is firmly planted into the bottom far corner of the net. Cue the ‘Ronaldo’ display!
The final whistle blows and JR gets the boys to take the applause of the travelling support. Results in the bar tell us that Aylesbury’s dismal run has continued with a 1-0 defeat at home to Aldershot, leaving our good selves 13 points clear. It seems amazing that only a couple of weeks ago we were sat in the pub agonising over how many we needed to win & wether we could win at Aylesbury. Now it seems that Aylesbury could even lose runners up spot. Sadly the Scummers have somehow managed to pull out a 3-1 win against Billericay. Why won’t they just go down!!!!
Man of The Match : Naz. Outstanding when he came on & 2 goals.
Entertainment Value : 7. We’re up so I’ll be nice…..