Cockfosters v Sun Sports 21st March 2017 SSMLP
Sun Sports came away from Chalk Lane on Tuesday night with another massive away win after beating Cockfosters 2-0.
Two wins and two clean sheets in the last two away matches have finally moved the Sun up from the dreaded 12th spot where they have been steadfast for the past three months!!
And the fact that they have beaten 4th and 3rd placed teams away from home and in succession shows how well the team have done and gives Sun fans and staff hope that they could possibly move forward and look to even challenge for honours next season.
Cockfosters certainly weren’t the in form team that were expected to show up and although they had chances they didn’t look like they were going to take them even if the game had lasted 3 hours, although they had the first opportunity with a shot that went past the wrong side of the post in the opening minutes.
‘Fosters then thought that they had taken first blood but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Jack Johnson weaved his magic and took a shot which beat Byfield in the red’s goal but hit the post, the ball fell kindly to Kyle Johnson but the rebound must have bobbled on the uneven turf as Kyle totally miss hit his chance to stab the ball home.
Tom Gibson was working on the overlap on the left and found an opening which he took well but the ‘Fosters keeper was in the right place at the right time to stop the shot.
From a George Hobson free kick the floated ball was headed out with ease by the defence but found Gibson who slid the ball back to Ryan McMahon, whether Ryan meant to shoot or pump the ball into the box remains unknown but the ball hit Callum Lee and deflected off of him into the Cockfosters goal…..no doubt Ryan will want to claim that he meant that all along!!
The Sun defence looked strong and any ball the Cockfosters players heaved into the penalty area was mopped up well by the defensive pairing of Scott Bonner and Gary Wallace, who are showing that they are forming a fantastic partnership at the back.
‘Fosters surged forward, trying to get an equaliser and went close but for a close range save from Matty Evans and then a scramble ensued in the six yard area which was cleared to safety by Gary Wallace.
The reds then went forward again, putting the pressure on the Sun when another shot this time beat Matty in the Sun goal but came off the post.
An error in midfield saw Ryan McMahon come away with the ball, feeding Jack Johnson who in turn threaded the ball through to Tom Gibson. Gibson beat one defender in the box and then showed confidence in front of goal with a cheeky shot from the outside of his left boot and made it 2-0 to the Sun.
A deep free kick from ‘Fosters followed and a shot on the volley narrowly flew over the woodwork and as half time came it was the Sun who went in two goals to the good.
Into the second half and Cockfosters knew they needed to find a goal to get back into the game and get it quickly.
But the Sun did what have done for the majority of matches this season by soaking up the pressure to then go forward on the counter.
Matty Evans was again required to come out from his line to stop ‘Fosters from scoring by making a excellent block save and was doing a fine job handling anything that managed to get through the tight Sun defence.
While up front Johnson & Johnson (Kyle and Jack) were harassing and closing down the reds defence at every opportunity.
From a Cockfosters corner an in-swinging cross looped over Evans but Gibson was there on the line to head it up and onto the inside of the crossbar which bounced kindly for the Sun away from the danger zone.
Substitute Deji Ikusemori found Tommy Walsh, who had the time to decide that he wanted to finish ‘Fosters off for good in this match but his curling effort glided just wide of the keeper’s left post.
Soon after and Tommy soon reciprocated, laying a ball nicely into Deji’s path and he let fly with venom which whizzed narrowly over the bar.
Time was rapidly running out for the reds and it was nearly curtains for them when a back pass was missed by the Cockfosters keeper and he had to run back desperately to scoop the ball off the goal line to spare his blushes.
Damien Cruickshank was called to head a shot off the line in the closing seconds of the match but the Sun were certainly deserved winners, although ‘Fosters could claim that they were missing some vital players for this match it was still a case of eleven against eleven and every team at some stage of the season has to muddle along as best as they can…it certainly hasn’t hurt the Sun much in the past few matches!!
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