Balham still unbeaten at Christmas

Walton & Hersham 2 Balham 3

At fantastic facilities by the River Thames, Balham came through a tough test to extend their unbeaten League run. With seven wins out of eight, the boys have made an almost faultless start to the season, and can be very proud of their efforts. This was one of their tougher tests, with the Whites below par in the first half. A vastly improved second-half performance brought a deserved victory, which probably should have been by a greater margin.

The boys started well, dominant for the first five minutes without creating anything too clear-cut. AJ's shot wide was the closest we came. The game then became scrappy, with the ref letting a lot of niggly fouls go, and both sides finding it difficult to string passes together. The home side gradually made their way into the game, and took an unexpected lead from their first chance of the game. Our old foe, the set-piece, was to blame, with an unmarked opponent having a free header from a corner. Shortly afterwards it could have got worse with George given a yellow card as the last defender grappling with their attacker. Thankfully, the free-kick came to nothing.

It looked like the Whites had got back into it with an excellent left-footed drive from Jude just wide. Balham looked strongest when they surged from midfield - Wilbur, Jude and Igor all looked threatening but the final pass would not come. On a very large pitch, the boys needed to use the width better, and did so with a rampaging run from AJ. He crossed the ball calmly to the returning Lucas, on the pitch as a sub for twenty minutes before half-time. The rest of the half was pretty much a stalemate, with our best chance coming from a Jude free-kick after he was hacked down unceremoniously. From a good position, the shot hit the wall.

Whilst Balham were pleased to have got back into it, it was clear at half-time that everyone felt we could up our game. Despite a scare right from the kick-off when the ball was launched forward by the keeper to a panicked Balham defence, the Whites were the stronger side for the first period of the half. There was a greater confidence in carrying the ball forward, and we saw several incisive interplays to find space. In the 50th minute, the boys took the lead for the first time in the match. Jude found himself at the edge of the box after some neat play on the right. It looked like the ball was going to get stuck under his feet, but somehow he created a bit of space and unleashed a special left foot rocket. As soon as the ball left his boot, it was clear it was going in, a real contender for goal of the season.

The Whites looked to turn the screw and found themselves in several good positions, particually on the left where Damian was causing the full-back lots of problems. Damian, Jude and AJ all had shots saved by a very stable keeper. With twenty minutes to go, the third did come, another exceptional goal but this time because of the fantastic build-up play from Wilbur and Igor. The captain had surged forward, laid the ball off to his midfield counterpart whose cheeky back-flick had Wilbur clean through. A simple poke of the ball and the boys were 3-1 up.

Walton & Hersham were more dangerous in the last few minutes, largely from long balls pumped forward. The boys always looked sharp on the break though, with Max's excellent run being saved absolutely superbly by the keeper and Jude going close again. For the last five minutes, a sloppy Balham gave the ball away too frequently and were trying to dribble around opponents in dangerous areas of the pitch. With the last kick of the game, an unnecessary dribble from defence was punished with the striker picking up the ball and curling a fine effort into the corner.

With Carshalton losing to Leatherhead (who incidentally have only lost to us this season) and Colliers Wood drawing with Old Ruts, it has been a superb day for Balham as they break for Christmas. The table looks as follows, with some tougher fixtures to come in the second half of the season. In the meantime, the boys can be thrilled with how they have come together as a new group this season - there is a real sense of team unity and pride and it shows.

	Played	Points	GD
Carshalton	10	23	+20
Balham	8	22	+26
Colliers Wood	10	22	+26
Reigate	13	22	+13
Leatherhead	9	17	+2