Ten-Em-Bee SDC Green 0 Balham 0

Often goalless games can be turgid and unwatchable, but this one was an absolute cracker. How it ended up without any goals was quite astonishing, but on a big pitch, Balham showed some great grit and determination to put an end to their losing run.

Whilst the boys' cause was helped by a wasteful centre forward, Balham had plenty of chances themselves and perhaps should have had a penalty too. As it was, Jacob made several superb one-on-one saves to prevent the opposition from scoring.

In a game that also included Balham's first red card (thankfully for a parent rather than a boy, with a strange decision from a ref who did not like being challenged), both sides would have been disappointed with a defeat.

The opposition started well with a flurry of corners, and Chris cleared off the line in the first minute. On a big pitch, the team in blue looked dangerous when they could get it through to their exceptionally tall forward. He quickly had a couple of chances but Jacob saved both of them with his feet.

It took a while for Balham to mount their first attack. George put in a good cross but Gethin couldn't quite get on the end of it. After lovely feet from Amine, George was snuffled out but the Whites were growing into the game.

At the other end, Ethan tracked back well and Jacob was required to make yet another one-on-one save. The game was oscillating from one end to the other. Ethan hit a drive just wide from a corner, and Dylan showed superb pace to set top a chance down the left.

Their unfortunate striker had two chances that he really should have done better with and somehow it remained goalless. Luca was putting in some excellent tackles though and they only really looked dangerous when the ball found its way to the big attacker.

It looked like Ten-Em-Bee would take the lead after an ill-timed tackle from George resulted in a penalty. Jacob dived to his left and palmed the ball away to pull off a superb save to great glee from the Whites. Shortly afterwards, George hit an excellent floating free-kick towards goal which their keeper did well to touch over. Minutes later through, he was stranded after a poor clearance but it was just too far out for George to punish him with a long-range left-foot effort. Amine very nearly gave Balham the lead with a left-foot drive. With Will on the pitch causing some problems for the defence, their goalkeeper panicked again picking up a back-pass. From the indirect free-kick, the Ten-Em-Bee defence blocked it, although it was questionable whether they were stationary before the free-kick was taken (resulting in the replacement of our linesman for politely challenging!)

The action was still not over with Jacob forcing another save from the attacker who was again clean-through.

In the second half, Balham started brightly after Luca had put in a couple of decisive tackles. Wilbur was getting on the ball setting up Will for a left-foot shot that was well-saved. A couple of minutes later, as Will turned in the box he was taken down by a defender but somehow the referee elected not to give a penalty.

The centre-forward missed another sitter, firing wide this time and it really did not look like his day! Straight afterwards he had another chance which Jacob saved again and it looked like Balham might nick a win.

How we didn't score in our next attack was beyond belief with Will, Ethan, George and Jude all involved in a goalmouth scramble, but it just would not go in. Straight afterwards, Wilbur's left-foot effort was smothered and Jude nearly followed up to tap it home but the brave keeper stopped it.

With Luca putting in more tackles, and Jacob making yet another one-on-one save, it was clear that the goal would not be breached. Will had a late chance which was well-saved, and the whistle blew with several exhausted boys delighted with their performance.

Next week sees the first round of the London Cup, and we will need to ensure we take our chances to progress.