Chaos by the Thames

Walton & Hersham 4 Balham 6

For the second match running, Balham scored six goals and are now the joint top scorers in the division. In a kamikaze game, the Whites raced into a 5-0 lead in the first half, but were pegged back to 5-4 before finally making the result safe late on. The boys are in a good streak of form with three wins out of four, and a surge away from the bottom of the table.

Fantastic facilities awaited Balham, with an excellent 3G surface suiting our passing game. The pitch was large though, which made it tough with several players absent and no subs available at all. The goals were full-size which made for a ten goal thriller, and Balham really should have scored more.

The boys started exceptionally well and looked dangerous with Jude coming close early on. Warning signs were there early though with some sloppy defending and poor communication resulting in some chances for the home team. Some resilient defending prevented an early goal and Balham were able to impose themselves from then on.

The Whites were looking menacing down the right flank, with Wilbur and Matthieu regularly combining to cause problems in Walton's defence. With a flurry of corners and free-kicks, the boys looked exceptionally dangerous from set-pieces - Alex's left-foot firing just wide from a free-kick early on, and a couple of corners creating problems. It was from a corner that Balham took a deserved lead though, this time from Wilbur's in-swinging cross from the right. Expertly placed, the keeper was at sixes and sevens and Matthieu poked the ball in.

The next 15 minutes saw an exceptional spell of football from Balham, as they ran the home team's defence ragged. From another corner, this time from Alex, the Walton defence were focused on Ty but Matthieu headed in unmarked after a superbly floated ball. A minute later, Jude pressed the right back superbly, quickly found Ty, who calmly slotted the ball into the corner and the boys were flying.

It was not too much longer until the fourth. An exceptional piece of distribution from Jacob found Matthieu, who skilfully found Ty down the right channel. A well weighted cross towards the back of the box was smashed goalwards by George. Despite a superb save, Wilbur was there to pop in the rebound and the boys were 4 up.

At this stage, Balham were rampant and a goal-saving tackle from the team in red prevented another. We did not have to wait too much longer though, after some lovely skill from Ty on the left of the box. The keeper saved well again but yet again Wilbur was there to score his second. His third nearly came a couple of minutes later with a left-footed shot miraculously saved by the home team's keeper, who despite the scoreline was having a wonderful match. George nearly scored too and Balham were on fire.

A bizarre spell followed, and a big learning for the Whites to stay focused even with such a large lead. After some poor defending, Jacob was left exposed and took down the attacker to give away a penalty. This was dispatched easily, and a couple of minutes later, no-one took responsibility from a hopeful free-kick which was inexplicably allowed to bounce in our own penalty area. Despite being 5-2 up at the break, the boys were disappointed, and rightly so as the scoreline was not representative of their dominance.

Somehow the start of the second half was even worse, with the large pitch taking its toll on the players, some of whom looked exhausted with no subs available. George's header was well saved from an early corner, but this was not indicative of how the next few minutes would go. A warning shot came early on when Walton rattled the bar from a counter-attack; from their next attack, an attacker danced his way through most of our defence to score their third. Jacob then pulled off a miraculous double save to keep Walton out, but from the resulting corner a poor clearance fell to an attacker who rifled a smashing shot into the corner. From 5-0 up, it was 5-4 and the Whites looked in danger.

For the remainder of the half though, Balham were largely on top, and spurned a few chances to extend their lead. Ty was involved in most of the attacks - hitting one wide after a great through ball from Wilbur, and separately showing great strength down the left before being foiled by the keeper. Matthieu showed some excellent persistence and skill to fire a cross in from the right which evaded everyone - sadly, Ty's header did not have enough on it to seal a superb goal. With the next attack, the newly-positioned striker did score his second though, rifling the ball in off the bar after yet more tenacity from Matthieu to steal the ball.

With two long-distance efforts from George just heading over, the match came to a conclusion with some exhausted boys all over the pitch. A well-deserved victory despite the scare, and the boys can be pleased with consecutive League victories.

Many teams played in the cup today, so only one other result. Balham remain 7th but are closing in on the team ahead of them and extending their distance from the bottom:

Worcester Park 3 : 4 Ashford Town 4