Sun Sports v Stotfold     27th August 2016        SSML Premier

After last Saturday's cup win over Northwood Sun were on a high and looking forward to the next big match...however they had to come back down to earth with a league match against Stotfold and the they came back down with a bit of a bump.
It started off well with Sun pushing forward from the kick off with Ryan McMahon flicking a perfect lob to find Jack Johnson whose diving header went past the post.
Stotfold were next to attack and Matty Evans came out of the Sun goal fast to block the shot.
After only eight minutes the deadlock was broken as a curling corner from Nathan Pooley found Liam James head who thumped it into the back of the net.
Minutes later and another in-swinging corner from Pooley gave the eagles another scare but this time Deji Ikusemori was swept off his feet by a defender but nothing was given by the referee.
Dan Bourne was the next player to have a shot at goal as Chris Blunden took the defenders away for Bourne to shot straight at the keeper (which was definitely an improvement on his effort on Wednesday for the reserves!!).
The eagles then had a goal ruled out for offside in a game that ebbed and flowed.
From a Pooley free kick James got on the end of the ball for another header but this time it went past the post and the Stotfold defence were looking pretty static from set pieces.
From there it started to go sour as Stotfold came back into the match as Dan Bond broke the Sun defence, Matty Evans got a hand to the ball but Bond managed to direct the ball into the net after 33 minutes.
Although Sun's heads went down they came back up ahead again with a Nathan Pooley free kick which had to cleared off the line.
Half time: 1-1
Stotfold had the first real chance of the second half with a cheeky lob from around 35 yards but Evans saw it to safety over the crossbar.
Sun had control of the majority of the half and continued to press forward but despite some good chances they couldn't make the chances count.
The came Sun's best chance to retake the lead when a Nathan Pooley cross wasn't cleared by the defence and the ball eventually found its way back to Pooley whose cross found Ryan McMahon with only the keeper to beat who stuck his hand out to block the shot which hit the post and was cleared by the Stotfold defence.
Three minutes left of the match and a Stotfold player was taken down just outside the box.
The players were warned before the match not to give Stotfold any free kicks around the penalty area and up stepped Ben L'Honor to take a fantastic free kick which Evans found unstoppable as the ball crashed into the net.
Sports tried to rally but it was too late by then and Stotfold took the points as Sun dropped down to 17th place.