Good result and well deserved this was for the Academy in a tight league. As stand in captain Rob Sanders was very clear that we had to put all in for the good of the team and that a result here was not beyond us. We listened and he was right.

The start was I’ll be honest was slightly foreboding. It was wave after wave of Chelmsford pressure for the first ten or so they dominated procession and territory pushing us right back onto our ‘D.’ But we defended stoutly, and they had little by way of shots or clearcut chances. The pressure really only yielded one short corner that had little to do with their play, Colin Singleton mashing a clearance that threatened what remains of my good looks. Dangerous play said the umpires, I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly, and it was left to Pinky to pick up the debate with umpires as to whether it was possible to award a foul given it was Brentwood on Brentwood crime. I suspect that debate continues to rage in the umpires group chat. Still Scott was called into action and as he has so often been more then up to the challenge.

After that we settled and from there on in my personal reading of the game was that we probably had at least equal amount of the ball, but we were better with it. With the midfield starting to push away from covering our own ‘D’ attacks started to build. Ian Rawlinson and I were able to start playing forward a bit more. Sam Severn and William McKay were willing runners and found useful pockets of space. Out wide Aidan Pass and Darshan Gandhi seemed to be available more often than not. It was Aidan that broke the deadlock. An attack down our right with the ball finding its way to the back left of the goal and Aidan on hand to knock in the goal. The second wasn’t to long behind that. This time a short corner won with a very obvious foot in the D. I sent the ball up to Rob, who then did something straight out of ski Sunday slaloming around runners and dispatching low to the keepers left.

Half time and the messaging was to keep going and to be mindful of how gutted we would be if we let this drop. The fact that there were no shorts probably tells you a lot about where the game was played, both teams being strong in defending their respective areas. Scott had to do one sprint from his goal to close down some danger. Rob Musk had a swing and a miss at a ball played in at speed, I had similar later on. William went so close to gobbling up a loose ball at the far post to score.

Far be it from me to comment on an opposition’s tactical set up but their very flat midfield repeatedly dropped deep leaving James, Ian and I with space to pick passes. They seemed to leave the wide areas empty which meant the ball to Aidan and Darshan was nearly always there to be played and enabled us to move up the pitch with minimum risk. It also meant that their attacks were slow in building up as they preferred to try and move through the middle. With Pinky and Colin making regular raids from deep we kept our shape and there was excellent communication throughout the game.

Overall, we saw it out with relative ease. The win keeps us in touch in a very tight league. Two games next weekend. Onwards and hopefully upwards.

Team: Scott Parsons, Simon Parsons, Charlie Sanders, Colin Singleton, Ian Rawlinson, Gary MacDonnell, Rob Sanders (C), Aidan Pass, James McKay, Sam Severn, William McKay, Doug Muncey, Rob Musk, Darshan Gandhi.