FC Romania 0 - 2 Tring Athletic FC

The performance of the season so far saw us take all three points at Cheshunt against a talented and powerful FC Romania Team.
Our opponents started the game at pace looking for an early breakthrough. They had much of the play and the lads found themselves chasing shadows for much of the first 20mins of the game, but in reality our keeper was not tested a great deal, but did make a great diving save to tip a shot from distance over the bar.
Having weathered the initial storm, Tring started to settle into the game and get some decent possession. With Max constantly raiding down the left, and Stobo on the right, we had the ball in the Romania box a number of times and looked increasingly threatening. Stobo had a shot from a tight angle that just went wide of the far post, but we seemed to be just missing the final pass to really hurt or opponents. On 35mins a cross from the left sailed into the area and the Tring player was clearly taken out as he attempted to meet the ball – the ref pointed straight to the penalty spot. The resulting penalty was cooly slotted low and right by Carbs.
0-1 to Tring at HT
FC Romania came out for the second half looking to make amends and had much of the early possession once again. Our shape had been good all game and a great defensive display really limited our opponents to any real clear-cut chances. As in the first half, as time went on we started to get decent possession ourselves and, with the game opening up, looked the more threatening with a couple of excellent passages of play. The FC Romania keeper was being kept increasingly busy when a ball found Max free on the right, who the cut in and saw the keeper off his line and expertly fired a shot looping over him in to the top corner – so 0-2 Tring on 75mins.
Our opponents continued to press, but our excellent defence held firm. We had chances at the other end to increase our lead as space continued to open up. The referee must have played 10 mins or more of extra time but finally blew the whistle at 5.03pm. Much joy on the Tring bench and amongst the small Tring contingent in the crowd.
This was a fantastic performance and result against a very good side – hopefully this will provide a template for the rest of the season.
Team: Soutar, Ogbebor, Deer, Ovington, Harvey, Stobbs, M.Hercules, Jones, Shepherd, Carbery, Delgardo Subs: Armstrong, Butler, F.Hercules, Smith, Chamberlain