Bad day at the office

Balham 0 Farnham 2

In a performance as miserable as the grey London skyline, Balham's good League form came to a crashing halt . Unfortunately the boys were down to 11 players again, but this had not stopped them in the last three matches and the opposition suffered the same fate.

In a game littered with defensive mistakes, too many touches in a shapeless midfield and a lack of creativity in attack, Balham only escaped with a two goal defeat as a result of some excellent goalkeeping and a misfiring striker. The Whites need to reflect on this defeat and consider their expectations for the season ahead - a push for promotion is possible but only with a step-change in approach.

The game started off slowly with few chances for either side bar a couple of long-range efforts from George. After a defensive stumble, the rapid striker had a straightforward one-on-one chance but Jacob smothered superbly. The Whites were creating no chances, with a lack of incisiveness and slow build-up play. Farnham continued to look dangerous with a number of plays down their left not being prevented and a series of goalkeeper saves. The away team took a deserved lead from an innocuous-looking free-kick which floated past everyone.

Despite clear instructions from Tomasz at half-time, sadly there was no improvement and the Whites did not have a single shot on target in the second half. Jacob made another excellent save from the left-sided striker who was left unmarked from a floated free-kick, and the away side missed numerous chances to extend their lead. The closest Balham came was a free-kick which Wilbur nearly got his head to but he was prevented by some solid defending.

Farnham scored a deserved second after a chaotic couple of minutes resulted in a penalty which was well converted.

Balham are fifth, but are losing touch with the leaders and need to focus to get two wins before Christmas:

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