Early Exit in the Cup

Balham 1 Walton & Hersham 7

It always felt like Balham had been given a tough draw in the Cup, and so it proved against the team two divisions above. The score makes the game look like a humbling experience, but Balham were competitive - particularly in the first-half, when they played some lovely football. Tiredness and a lack of energy showed in the second though, as well as a ruthless edge by the team in red who took most of their chances.

The boys got off to an appalling start, and were a goal down within a minute. A stationary defence were nowhere as the tall attacker had a simple header to open the scoring.

For the majority of the rest of the half, the Whites played well. They passed the ball around crisply, showed bite and determination in the tackle and really did not look like a side two divisions below. Ty swept out a couple of lovely balls to the right wing for Dylan to chase, Wilbur and George showed some creative link-up play in midfield, and Charlie put in some dogged tackles at CDM. Chris was getting to every ball in the centre of defence and Max constantly harried their defence. The Whites created a couple of half-chances, with Dylan firing towards the top corner and Gethin putting in a lovely cross from the left which Dylan nearly put away.

The reds looked dangerous on the attack though, and it required a superlative sliding clearance from Luca to prevent them doubling their lead. Balham held steady against a flurry of corners and were able to make their way back upfield. Wilbur had a glorious chance from a corner but could not quite connect, and a minute later floated in a lovely free-kick which no-one could quite turn in. After a goalkeeper error though, with a cross spilled in the penalty area, the midfielder scored a deserved equaliser and it felt like the match was back on.

Almost instantly Walton reclaimed their lead with a goal from a free-kick and the boys had it all to do again. George nearly equalised, with a clear sight on goal but his left-footed effort hit Gethin on the way through - although it was probably going wide. The lead was then extended with a rapid break causing problems for the Balham defence - their dangerous striker rifled into the corner of the net.

A couple of long-range efforts from Balham, and an excellent save from Jacob, ended the half, and whilst they found themselves down, they really could count themselves unlucky to be in the position they were in.

The second half was a different story though as the higher-ranked opposition showed their quality. Jude and Dylan had looked lively in attack, but their skilful No 7 was allowed to prance his way through the whole team to score in a show of poor defending from Balham. Minutes later a quick break resulted in their fifth and the game was over.

Whilst James had the ball in the net, it was correctly ruled offside and the match drifted with the result a certainty. Two late goals from Walton put a bit of an unnecessary gloss on the result, and the boys trooped off well-defeated.