We are Balham, and we're top of the league!

Reigate Priory 0 Balham 2

The boys have timed their surge to the top perfectly; with 16 points out of the last 18, one more win will secure a much deserved title. It was particularly sweet to defeat Reigate, an opponent that has been a bogey team over the years, and a team whose behaviour on and off the pitch was tetchy and petulant. It is huge credit to the boys that they did not rise to it, they let their football do the talking and were unlucky not to win by more. The second half particularly was a dominant performance from the Whites, who passed well and could have scored more.

It all could have been very different early on with Jacob athletically tipping a rasping shot on to the bar and the onrushing striker blazing over from the rebound. Balham themselves could have scored from the next attack but Jude fired over with his left foot. The boys looked like they had control of the game for the bulk of the opening exchanges, and they certainly dominated possession. However, there were too many loose passes on an expansive pitch which gave the home side chance to counter attack. Despite this, the Whites had the best early chances - Jude's curling free-kick was just wide, and Igor's left-foot shot from the edge of the box didn't really test the keeper.

AJ hobbled off injured for a period having twisted his ankle in a goalmouth scramble. The home side were consistently fouling, particularly the centre-forward, who regularly kept his foot in when he did not need to. With a lenient referee, the boys needed to grit their teeth and get on with it, and so they did. A highly controversial moment came when Jude struck a beautiful left-footed shot towards goal, which the keeper got a hand to. It clearly went over the line. hitting the wheel in the frame of the goal, but neither the home linesman nor the referee seemed to see what everyone else watching did. The frustration continued when Junior shot over from a dangerous position. At the other end, Jacob made an excellent save with his feet after a rapid counter-attack from yet another waste of possession.

The second highly controversial moment of the half came when Igor was stamped on the ground by the home centre-forward. He was very lucky to only receive a yellow card, with the referee saying that it was not purposeful. Igor's face quickly ballooned despite the ice on the sidelines, and it required Jamie to politely tell him that he could not play if he could not see out of one eye!

With a few minutes to go to half-time, Balham reshuffled and made full use of the squad. George and Damian realised they had a lot of space, and regularly surged into midfield from the back. It was from one of these runs, a lovely mazy one from George, that our opener came. A wonderful floated right-foot cross was superbly met by Jude who headed the ball past the helpless keeper to give the boys a deserved lead.

At half-time, Jamie stressed the importance of keeping better control of the ball and using the spaces better to exert more dominance. The boys fulfilled this to the letter, creating several chances early on. The goalkeeper kept Reigate in the game in the first few minutes, after saves from both Jude and Junior. As space started to open up more, Junior came into the game more, consistently beating their defender and causing havoc on the left flank. Wilbur was controlling midfield, regularly rotating the ball smartly, particularly after Luke had won several interceptions and blocks. Whilst Jude shot over again after lovely play from George, the second was coming and so it did in slightly fortuitous circumstances. With the home side guilty of stopping thinking the ball was out, Damian's persistence made them pay with AJ there to knock a simple second in.

The Whites then controlled the rest of the match very well, and were unlucky not to extend their lead. Damian, out at right-back with Chris on in central defence, showed some lovely close-touch skill to get away from his defender and put a cross in which was just too long for Junior to wrap his foot around. Joe showed fantastic energy with a brilliant surge forward from the left and an incisive ball through to AJ, who combined with Jude to shoot just wide. Max's wonderful skill against a tiring defender set up Jude himself whose shot hit the post with the keeper beaten.

The home side looked defeated, although they rallied in the final few minutes with Jacob making a stretching diving save from a free-kick, the last attack of the game. Balham now need to win a maximum of one match from their remaining three to be crowned Champions! Next week sees a fantastic opportunity to do that with our final away match of the season against Esher, a team that we demolished earlier in the season, but that somewhat surprisingly beat Moor Mead 2-1 today.