Northwood Res. 2  Camberley Res. 3

Saturday 30th March 2013

NORTHWOOD RESERVES		Suburban League Premier B Division
		At Northwood Park
Team line-up
1	Garry Malone
2	Eric Nyarko
3	Alex Ishola
4	Theo Hunte
5	Tobi Oluborode (70m)
6	Aaron Watson
7	Denis Nortey (75m)
8	Connor Crossan
9	Michael Dixon (80m)
10	Romaine Walker
11	Matt Cooper
Substitutes
12	Frazer Robbins (70m)
14	Jehrell Best (80m)
15	Bart Koprowski
16	Rumaine Scarlett (75m)
17	Michael Bonsra

After several weeks without a competitive game due to the weather, Northwood reserves started slowly and were put under pressure from the first minute by a spirited Camberley side. Garry Malone, back in goal after his recent suspension - was called into action in the 3rd and 8th minutes, making a couple of good saves to deny Camberley an early lead. Ten minutes into the match Northwood finally started to settle, and were unlucky not to score from a good run and long range effort from Michael Dixon.

On fifteen minutes Matt Cooper opened the scoring for Northwood when he found himself some space on the left wing near the touchline and his cross/shot caught the Camberley keeper in two minds, and he fumbled the ball into his own net.

Camberley responded well to this early setback by piling on some more pressure and should have equalised on twenty minutes when their striker found himself in the box with only the keeper to beat; however, he was denied by a good block from Malone. Five minutes later Romaine Walker was through on goal after running onto a wonderful through ball from Dixon. With the Camberley keeper bearing down on Walker, his delicate chip from just outside the left hand corner of the box rolled frustratingly inches wide of the far right hand upright. Another good move through midfield ended with a second goal in the 31st minute for Northwood, when Walker curled the ball from the left hand corner of the box around the keeper into the top right hand corner of the net.

The remainder of the first half was pretty scrappy, with neither team carving out any real clear cut chances; when the referee blew for half-time Northwood should have been the happier of the two sides, going in 2-0 up and seemingly in control of the game.

Unfortunately, the team came in to find that an opportunist thief had managed to get into the Northwood home dressing room and had stolen a number of the players wallets, phones and car keys. This had a definite impact on the team, and when they came out for the second half they never really got going again.

Within three minutes of the restart, one of the Camberley forwards was able to skip past three defenders unchallenged to slot home their first goal. The Woods reserves appeared to have lost their shape and focus, and with their minds elsewhere, Camberley where able to capitalise on some really sloppy defending when they were awarded two penalties in quick succession for unnecessary rash challenges in the box.

Both penalties where converted, and Camberley - who didn’t look like scoring in the first half - found themselves 3-2 up and, but for another couple of good saves by Malone, could have added even more to their tally. This, as the saying goes, was definitely a game of two halves.

Hopefully, the team can put this disappointing episode behind them and bounce back at home on Saturday against Colliers Wood.