Balham undone by direct football again

Sheen Lions 3 Balham 1

There are consistent themes for the boys' defeats this season - a poor record away from home and a consistent struggle against teams who play directly. Sadly both conspired today on a windy and muddy day pre-storm. The Whites were without doubt the better footballing side, but that lacks significance really.

With a few players out, the team required some jigging around and a few players were in unfamiliar positions. The Whites were punished in the first minute with their first misplaced pass being pounced open and a simple lob starting the scoring.

Despite the Whites being the only side looking to pass the football around, it did not mean much as few chances were created in the first-half against a solid defence. Alex, bravely in goal with Jacob's long-term injury, pulled off an excellent palming save to keep the score down but as the half wore on, a mammoth scramble in the box somehow resulted in a goal despite several clearances and blocks.

There was no lack of effort on Balham's part, with Sammi particularly putting his body on the line on several occasions. Despite this, at half-time the boy trudged off 2-0 down, acknowledging that they should not be struggling against such a style of football.

The second half saw a better performance. Ironically it was a long throw from Ty that resulted in Balham's goal, with George deflecting it in off his knee. With more than 20 minutes to go, it looked like Balham had a chance to rescue something although they were again reliant on Alex making an excellent diving save to his right. Balham got themselves in several promising positions but the final ball never came, with the boys taking too many touches and allowing themselves to be closed down. Ty hit a shot wide and Wilbur could not quite get on the end of a lovely ball from Max.

The game was settled with ten minutes to go with a lovely strike from the edge of the box. After that the match petered out, with one close chance after Sammi's curling effort was saved onto the bar. The Whites left an away ground disappointed again.

The top three of Sheen, Epsom and Croygas are starting to open up a gap now. Balham need to strike back with victories over the latter two in their next games.