A dismal Sunday

Balham 2 Mitcham Park Stripes 8

There are times this season when Balham have lost but played well, learnt from training and showed some passion and commitment. Sadly this was not one of them. An abject second half performance, when the boys barely got out of their own half, and seemed to lack much desire to turn the game around. A really disappointing day all round, amplified by yet more injuries - this time to Luca, Chris and Wilbur.

Mitcham raced into an early 2-0 lead, with gaping holes exposed in the Balham defence. It could have been more, with their striker hitting the post and missing several other chances. Balham were seemingly wary of the size of several of their opponents and it looked like it would be a very long day.

Somehow though, Balham looked like they had turned it around, with two quick-fire goals from Jude - the second an absolute beautiful piece of skill where he turned the defender with his left foot and rifled in with his right. A minute later it looked like Balham had a great chance to take the lead with a free-kick awarded literally on the line of the penalty area. George floated the shot towards the left-hand corner (video above), only to see the shot unluckily rattle the crossbar.

The Whites then had an awful end to the half with the opposition scoring twice in the last two minutes. The third was an excellent volley from a corner, although it should have been cleared and the fourth perhaps could have been chalked off for handball.

The second half was a totally different story, with Mitcham absolutely dominating the game. Max had a couple of chances on the break, but the team in red and black were ruthless. Poor tackling led to several attackers waltzing through the Balham team on numerous occasions, and the boys simply never looked like getting back into it. The match was crowned by one exceptional tall player, who had played the first half in goal, score the eighth - encouraged on by his gleeful teammates who knew they were toying with the Balham team.

Balham play the reverse fixture in two weeks time. It could not be a better fixture for them to show whether they want to work hard and turn this around.