Brentwood 1st XI vs Spalding 1st XI

Brentwood took the two and a half hour journey up to Spalding expecting a tough game from the side placed third in the league.

Perhaps it was the long journey up, but Brentwood appeared slow to the ball, finding themselves on the back foot from the off. Brentwood conceded a string of penalty corners which they kept out but looked increasingly frantic. Another was given away and the Spalding forward, who had tried various routines, threw a powerful drag-flick to the bottom left of the goal to give the home side a deserved lead. This was the wake-up call Brentwood needed as they began to compete and play the patient passing game. They probed the defence but to little outcome, as the game momentum began to swing evenly, with each team finding scoring opportunities. Brentwood found their chance back into the game as a ball from Jak Taylor on the edge of the circle cut through the defence, finding Aaron Doyle who burst past his marker to deflect the ball over the keeper into the net. Brentwood looked to have saved the half going into the break on evens, but were denied as Spalding gained the lead from a fierce shot from the top of the circle.

The half had barely started, but Nick Hull was off like a raw prawn, fighting of defenders, who were on him like seagulls at a tip, on a searing run down the left wing before reaching the byline and reversing it to Alex Henderson, who lay in wait on the right side of the circle and hammered it into the far corner. In a 15 minute period, Spalding had no answer to the relentless Brentwood attack, who piled on the pressure and looked at ease with a strong passing game, but failed to find any further result in front of goal. It was déjà vu as Brentwood were found to be lapsing and failed to respond as the game turned in Spalding's favour and they were ruthless on attack, putting another goal between them and Brentwood. It then seemed as though the wind, and fight, had been taken out of Brentwood. The game began to come to its end and frustratingly Brentwood capitulated and let two goals in at the death in what seems to be becoming habit, as they couldn't close out the game, giving the score a somewhat flattering 5-2 to Spalding.