Rampant Balham destroy Nork Park

Nork Park 0 Balham 7

For the second team this season, Balham put seven past the Banstead outfit, this time unanswered. After a dominant first-half which somehow only resulted in a single goal, the boys were ruthless in the second against a dispirited looking team with only ten players. The match was so one-sided that Nork Park only mustered one shot on goal in the whole match; Balham's territorial advantage was so dominant in the first half, there was a collective disappointment with the scoreline after 40 minutes.

Whilst the Whites were dominant in the first half, there were elements of their play which were a little sloppy - holding on to the ball too long, not spotting eager runners and a handful of missed chances before the opener. On a windy day on an exposed pitch, it took a while for Balham to get going, but for a spell half-way through the half, they fathomed so many chances. Max, who had just shot wide when he might have tested the keeper, played a delightful ball through to Jude who skewed the ball left-footed past the post. Ethan was causing chaos anytime he had the chance to run at the full-back, and also had a couple of chances that were not taken. Jude's fine shot was very well saved by the keeper diving full length to his right and frustration was rising.

Finally, the opener came when Max drilled a shot left-footed into the corner and the boys had a deserved lead on the half hour. There were a couple more chances before the break with Jude's free-kick just over and George flicking Patrick's cross wide.

At half-time the boys were keen to move the ball quicker and extend their lead and so it proved in a barnstorming second half. After a nervy first five minutes, Balham grabbed control of midfield with Chris and Sammi consistently mopping up balls for the team to exploit. Ty, Patrick and Charlie regularly swept up from the back, as did James, kindly playing in goal with a confidence to start from a high line and play the ball calmly around the defence. The second came after an exquisite pass from George was beautifully curled around the keeper by Ethan.

Balham then scored three in a matter of minutes. Jude's shot hit the post and Max had the simplest rebound to tap in to secure the result. His hat-trick came almost immediately afterwards with a very strong contender for goal of the season. Picking up the ball on the right, he dinked the ball on to his left, and unleashed a stunning curling effort into the top right-hand corner of the goal. A satisfying brush of the crossbar on the way through made the goal look even better.

The game was definitely won but Balham pushed for more. An excellent run from Ethan saw the ball crossed into an onrushing Dylan who bundled the ball in. His second came when he was alert to a goalkeeper spill and the boys had six. With Ty encouraging Sammi to score his 'seasonal goal', the midfielder obliged tapping in another rebound and preventing Dylan's hat-trick at the same time!

The temptation against weaker teams is to hold on to the ball too long and try to run around the opposition. The second half clearly showed that keeping to a crisp passing game is considerably more effective, and frankly pleasing on the eye. Well done to everyone for an excellent result today.