Brilliant Balham bury Leatherhead in spectacular second-half

Balham 4 Leatherhead 0

This game had it all: a hat-trick, a penalty, denied penalties, a red card, and a charmed Leatherhead goal with the woodwork rattled four times. A quite brilliant second-half performance from Balham destroyed the opposition and resulted in a deserved victory. It did not look like that at the outset though, with a disjointed first 15 minutes and several passes going astray. Jude did hit the outside of the post in the second minute, but that was a rare highlight early on. Leatherhead had territorial advantage during this period, but were limited to long-range efforts and a bizarre deflected punt which Jacob did well to turn around the post.

After twenty minutes, with AJ on up front and Wilbur in midfield, the game immediately turned. The home side were vastly improved and had several chances, the closest being a left-footed shot from Jude after a through ball from George. The away team's goalkeeper made the first of several great saves. The boys had a couple of half-chances with Junior, Jude and AJ all combining well.

The second-half was one of the most one-sided periods of football we will probably see this season with the Whites absolute dominant. Early on, it looked like AJ, causing all sorts of problems with his physicality, was felled in the box. Inexplicably the referee awarded a free-kick inches outside of the area which Jude promptly rattled against the post. With Alex on for the second-half, our corners from the right had an added inswinging danger from his left foot, with the keeper denying George twice. The second was a phenomenal save on to his crossbar. Unbelievably, he did the same from Jude's curling effort and we all wondered whether the deserved goal would come.

After the Whites had pressed and pinched the ball in midfield, AJ did score the opener, holding his balance well after stumbling in the area. Jude's left-foot shot was well saved by the excellent keeper, but the second killer goal game shortly afterwards. Chris' fine headed clearance found AJ who was far too quick for the onrushing keeper, leaving Lucas with a simple task of rolling the ball in the net.

The third goal was a fine finish from AJ after a beautiful incisive ball from Jude. The only challenge to the boys' dominance was when Lucas picked up a second yellow for a petulant kick at a defender and Balham were down to 10. With fifteen minutes to go, this could have proved troublesome but Balham continued to dominate, helped by the away side themselves playing the last few minutes one man short. It was no surprise when the fourth came, with a penalty awarded after AJ was hacked down in the box. No dispute this time, and despite every player in the team wanting to take it, the striker himself calmly slotted it home for an excellent hat-trick.

After four matches, Balham remain unbeaten and have had an excellent start to the season. Three other teams remain unbeaten: Carshalton, Colliers Wood and Reigate. A fixture quirk has us playing Leatherhead again next week before minds turn to the Cups.