Blackheath Show What They Can Do Against Strong Academical Side

On a dreary day in South London the 1st XI made a short trip to Bermondsey where they faced London Academicals, a side yet to be beaten this season. The boys were under pressure to perform after a string of both underwhelming and disappointing results. With two in-house suspensions for poor discipline last week combined with some early season injuries, Blackheath’s 14 were up against the young-looking 16 of the Academicals. Needless to say, the boys were going to have to put in a big shift to get anything out of the game.

The game started brightly with both sides looking composed at the back. A high line from Blackheath was beginning the bear fruit. Catching them on the counter shortie no.1 of the day bulged the back of the net courtesy of a Chris Harden flick. A nervy 10 minute period followed where some poor defending and reckless play gifted opportunities to the home side who scored with a flick of their own to make it level. Some hard graft in the middle from Lewis Burnham and Ed Bull helped to keep the Academicals at bay before the tide turned before half time. Some silky skills from Dave Lawrence resulting in a perfectly placed crash ball deflected into the top corner by Chris Harden. 2-1 at the break.

The confidence of taking the lead made all the difference come the second half. Tom Harden, Tom Archer and Ben Wyatt all kept the ball for long periods of time making the opposition forwards work hard for no reward. Blackheath were well on top and this began to show as their opponents tired. An Andrew Slack masterclass led to goal number 3. Picking the ball up in our third and taking it into the opposition D to find Chris Harden back post brought about a collective sigh of relief. Dave Lawrence added icing to the cake, beating almost their whole team only to be brought down by the keeper and score the p-flick. 4-1 at full time. A satisfying result but one that needs to be emulated consistently up until Christmas.

DOD – Eddy Forshaw
MOM – Dave Lawrence