Through in the Cup!

Balham 3 Epsom & Ewell Colts 1

A ruthless first-half performance saw Balham through in the first round of the Cup, paired against a team from the same division this year. On a gorgeous bright day, the Whites were excellent in the first half, but faded a little in the second. Whilst there were numerous chances to extend the lead, the boys lacked a clinical edge, and at the other end were grateful for several excellent goalkeeping saves to keep the lead intact. Overall, though, the Whites thoroughly deserved their victory and can go into next week's London FA Cup with confidence.

It was the away side who nearly scored early on with a clear chance from a corner, but Balham quickly established their foothold in the game. George, Joe and Wilbur played some lovely one-touch football early on, and Chris consistently mopped up, always finding a teammate. The first goal came from a long free-kick from Ty though - excellently fired towards the far post where Jude was able to pick up and find Joe who scored his first goal for Balham with a beaming smile on his face!

George was looking consistently dangerous - he hit one just over after a pass from Wilbur, and then aimed a lovely curling effort towards goal which was deflected out for a corner, somewhat luckily perhaps. Wilbur and Joe were continuing to combine well down the right, and nearly set up Max who could not quite get the ball out of his feet when a few yards out.

After a defensive error, Epsom should have equalised but missed a clear chance and a couple of minutes later lived to regret it. Clearly drilled to play the ball out from the back, some strong pressing from the Whites was causing problems. Jude picked up a loose free-kick and curled a delightful finish in to double the lead.

The boys were looking rampant, and had several chances to extend the lead further, Wilbur coming particularly close from the right of the box but the keeper saved well. The deserved third goal came in contentious circumstances after George curled an excellent free-kick into the top corner from the edge of the box - a goal the captain deserved after several close chances. The away team vigorously complained that the free-kick had been taken too quickly, but the referee waved away the protests and the Whites were cruising.

As often happens in football though, the boys switched off with a few minutes to go in the first-half and let the winger put a cross over from the left which was headed in with no-one attacking the ball.

The second half saw a less impressive performance although Balham did have several chances to score. Early on, a goal was ruled out for offside after fantastic skill from Ty at the back to set up Dylan. His blistering pace was too much for the full back and Jude swept the cross in but sadly the goal was disallowed as it would have been a superb counter-attack. Jude nearly scored the goal of the season with an exquisite half-volley from 30 yards from Max's header, but the ball was an agonising couple of yards wide. The away team were struggling to get the ball out from the back and the Whites nearly capitalised twice: Dylan set Max up but the striker was closed down; Max himself then set up Jude who curled the ball wide.

A sloppy ten minutes then followed, and Epsom were unlucky not to pull a goal back. Jacob made a first-rate point blank save from a corner diving to his right, and from the resulting corner an unmarked attacker should have scored. Thankfully the downturn did not last long and the Whites pushed for a fourth. Wilbur's precise cross from the right nearly created it but Joe was denied by some excellent defending; after another poor goal-kick George had a chance; James had two close chances too but it appeared the goal simply would not come.

With only a few minutes to go, the Whites looked like they were going through comfortably, but ended up grateful for two excellent saves from Jacob in the last five minutes: the second a wonderful tip on to the crossbar from a lethal-looking drive.

The second round will be played in early November. Sadly the boys will not be joined by the Balham Eagles side who were beaten 4-0 after a tough draw against Mitcham.