The 1st XI came out on top of a scrappy encounter against a weakened Tulse Hill & Dulwich during a forgettable 70 minutes at the Meadow. With the following day’s semi-final on the back of the squad’s minds, the game did not carry the same gravitas as it could have done when looking at the fixture list back in December.
That said, the 1st XI started strongly, kept the ball well and looked menacing. A beautifully worked goal soon followed with some neat link-up play between Chris Harden, Dave Lawrence, and Charlie Speller seeing the ball passed into the back of the net. Almost as soon as they were 1 up, the foot came right off the accelerator. The rest of the half was a melee of errors from both sides resulting in a frantic game pace and a fair 1-0 at halftime.
The second half was marginally better but still littered with errors from both sides. The one bright spark was a beautiful move starting with Ben Stafford at right back who fired it into the middle and another one-two between Harden and Slack meant the old man of the team tapped it in at the far post. 2-0 and job done going into Sunday.
It has been an extraordinary turnaround since December. The squad stared relegation in the face and refused to allow it. With one game to play, the 1st XI have lost one, drawn two and won seven in 2018 to finish in fifth place regardless of next weekend’s result. Add to that another cup final at Lee Valley and things are looking up.