WE SUFFER A NARROW DEFEAT

One of the frustrating aspects of supporting a team is attending midweek fixtures in the winter away from home (when you have to pray that the M25 is not clogged up - fortunately it wasn’t too bad just a few notices saying there were queues ahead) and you come away empty handed after your opponent’s score from their only shot on target.

Of course these moments are outweighed by the times when you win or draw but on this occasion I felt sorry for the players as they gave everything against a very good side and they didn’t deserve to lose.

St Panteleimon are a relatively new team having been formed in 2015 from the Greek community in London and although they are based in Greenford they play at the Lantern Stadium home of Potters Bar Town who they have a ground share arrangement with.

As a result of their win St Panteleimon moved up to 3rd in the table and whilst the top 2 positions look out of reach (Real Bedford and MK Irish look uncatchable) they have still had a very good season so far and are a formidable outfit. They have the 3rd best defensive record in the Premier Division (after the top 2 teams) conceding just 29 goals in 24 games. Their defence is built around their captain Clayton Afonso a Brazilian by birth who has played professionally in Hong Kong and for that country.

By contrast this defeat dented our good run of 5 unbeaten games and as a result we dropped one place to 11th in the table. They say that football can be about fine margins and that was certainly the case here as we created enough chances to have won or at least draw the game.

The home side started at a frenetic pace and their centre forward Ivan Machado shot over the bar from a promising position after only 4 minutes. Our hosts enjoyed more possession and territory than us and they were dangerous on the attack but we defended so well that new keeper Owen Brooks-Tonkin could have had a glass of wine and a cigar in goal.

Midway through the half we started to get into the game and then carve open the oppositions defence and create some genuinely good scoring chances. We forced the home keeper Lincon Marques to show off skills and he responded superbly keeping out 2 shots from Harry Shepherd and 2 from Max Hercules. We should have really made these opportunities count and some of us had a nagging feeling that our opponents would make us pay for our profligacy and that proved to be the case early in the second half.

Five minutes after half time we carelessly gave away the ball and Javarn Bernard took full advantage to run through and crash a superb shot off the underside of the bar and in. There was nothing Owen Brooks-Tonkin could do. Score 1-0.

Harry Jones later forced the keeper to save a shot at the near post and he then headed a cross from Frankie Hercules wide. We kept going right to the end as we always do but the home defence kept things tight and they ran out close winners at the final whistle. FT Score 1-0.

Although the final result was disappointing (and didn’t help with the trip home on the M25 although the traffic was not so busy!!) we have to remember we were playing against one of the best teams in the division and on another day the outcome could have been different.

We have now met St Panteleimon 3 times and on all 3 occasions we have lost by a single goal. However, the fixtures have presented us with the opportunity to put that record straight as we face them again on Saturday at our Stadium. It will be another tough game but hopefully we will rise to the occasion.

One bright note it was great to see the return of Harrison Mead to our ranks and he is sure to make a big difference to the team. Luke Peerless also made a welcome return from injury but regrettably after only 3 minutes he was taken off the field following a bad challenge. Luke has had a tough time with injuries and we hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Team:

TA: Owen Brooks-Tonkin, Lee Stobbs (Frankie Hercules 65), Adam Sawyer, George Carbery (Capt), Dave O’Connor, Jack Harvey (Liam Smyth 77), Noah Butler, Harry Shepherd (Luke Peerless 83) (Harrison Cornick 89), Greg Deer (Harrison Mead (58), Max Hercules, Harry Jones.

Scorers:

SP: Javarn Bernard (50)

Crowd: 17