KEW PARK RANGERS 3 v FELTHAM YOUTH 1

Feltham’s two month unbeaten run came to an end at Kew this morning against a lively Kew team who belied their position in the table and who fully deserved their victory. The young blues were today lacklustre and for the first time this season were outfought by their opponents.

  Feltham made a good start on a heavy pitch without any clear lines marked and soon had Kew pinned back. However their usual passing game was missing and they struggled to come to terms with the sticky pitch as too many times play was confined to the middle and the ball not delivered to the wide areas. Too many players were running into blind areas and we will need to work on this aspect of our game in training. Feltham did create chances in the first half but the shots lacked conviction and power and were easily dealt with by the Rangers keeper. In an even first half the Blues took the lead on the half time whistle when Turnell challenged the keeper and his rebound found the net.

  The second half started well for Feltham as John Jo was fouled for a penalty however the Kew keeper pulled off a good save and the score remained 1-0 to Feltham. Anthony soon had the ball in the net but was deemed offside. This seemed to be the wake up call for the home side who suddenly stepped up their game and Feltham were forced to defend deeper and deeper. Joe produced a good save to thwart the lively Kew forward but the same player soon raced through beating several Feltham defenders before firing the equaliser. Feltham were now really under the cosh and Kew took the lead with a fine strike from the right hand side of the penalty area. It soon became three when a rash challenge lead to a penalty for the home side that was well despatched. Three goals in five minutes seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Blues who to their credit did produce a few chances near the end but could not get back into the game.

  In football you need that bit of luck sometimes and perhaps ours deserted us today when instead of going 2-0 up we suddenly found ourselves 3-1 down in a 7 minute spell. We had a long chat about our level of performance after the match and it will be a test of character for the boys to rebound from this result and get the season on track again. Next week we face another difficult match against Walcountians and we need to get our attitude right for this game. The boys have set a standard for themselves this season and today fell way below that standard. Lets not take away the hard work we have done this season.

  Thanks today to George for running the line and to the parents for their support in cold conditions, particularly after the match when the law was being laid down about the attitude in training. Thanks to Toby and his Kew team who fully deserved their victory, hopefully we will not be as charitable in the return match in January.

Scorer – Turnell (30 mins)

Squad – Joe, Lewis,Adam, Daniel S , Marco , John Jo , Nathan , Simon , Anthony , Leon , Sam , Turnell , Richard , Daniel Q.