SPOILS SHARED AT THE FORTRESS

Saturday 10th October saw the Men's 1XI take on West Hampstead at home in front of a raucous home crowd. With the visiting side beating BOE 5 - 1 during pre season, the squad new it would be a tough ask to preserve an unbeaten start to life in South Prem B.

As expected the match was a feisty encounter with strong challenges flying in from the start. With a number of younger players in the side, BOE could have easily been intimidated by the opposition's approach. This was not to be the case as BOE stood up to the challenge and took the game to the visitors. They showed their attacking intent with a superb effort in the first 2 mins which drew the first of many excellent saves from the West Hampstead GK. However we soon had an early lead in the game. A fine move it was starting from the two fullbacks, Ben Wyatt and Tom Harden who found a forward leading back to collect. The forward popped the ball into Eddy Forshaw in midfield who sprayed the ball to the right hand flank to find a youthful looking Rob Hughes galloping towards the opposition D. Rob duly found Dave Lawrence who assisted beautifully with the ball being slipped into the net by Skipper Chris Harden.

BOE's nemesis for the day - Laxman Karan then struck for the first time by converting a penalty corner and pulling one back for the visitors.

From then on in the half it was the Josh Self show. A dominant performance from the promising 15yr old resulted in a goal on his 1st Team home debut to secure BOE's second of the half. His tenacity and drive forcing the ball over the line after some silky skills and evasion through the D. However, West Hampstead responded with another penalty corner to draw level. But BOE got the upper hand in the first half when Chris Harden fired in a delicious penalty corner right on the verge of half time.

BOE appeared for the second half confident they could finish the job and take all of the points. But despite a dominating 5 minutes West Hampstead had other ideas and quickly stuck away another penalty corner. It was 3 from 3.

It was then time for BOE MOM, Rob Hughes, to grab centre stage with a delightful tackle and pick on the right hand wing by the half way line. he charged forwards before 'pre scanning' and firing a brilliant ball in towards the far post which Chris Harden deflected in past the sprawling West Hampstead keeper. A fine assist and sublime finish.

BOE continued to press and try for another goal to give them a 2 goal cushion and put the game beyond their oppo. Unfortunately, the extremely clinical West Hampstead penalty corner routine scored their fourth of the day to once again dry level. A few close chances for both sides in the dying minutes could've cruelly won the game but it was shared spoils as the final whistle blew.

A good, determined and hardworking performance from the lads with top performances from Josh Self, Eddy Forshaw, Tom Harden and Rob Hughes. There were some challenging and interesting decisions throughout the game but the team showed great focus to stick to the task in hand and ignore the factors they have no control over.

The squad face Winchester away next week with the chance to maintain their strong start to life in South Prem B.