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Tootings fine away start to the season continued
with a surprisingly straightforward win against
previously unbeaten Hornchurch. On a pitch that would not have looked out of place
on a farm terrors controlled proceedings from start to
finish.
Fielding the same eleven that started at Wealdstone Terrors
began quietly, with the back three again effortlessly
snuffing out anything that was thrown at them. It was
a full eight minutes before the first Terrors attack
and not until a quarter hour had passed before Fabian
Batchelor won a corner, giving Paul Vines the first
chance with a header that just cleared the crossbar
from the resulting the set piece.
Alan McLeod, now re installed in the middle of the park, continued to impress throughout both with his tackling and intelligent distribution and
he was unlucky not to get his name on the score sheet with a powerful header from a
Paul Vines cross that thundered off a post.
A midfield melee saw Jamie Byatt receive a card for retaliation
as tempers frayed, something not helped by the clear local
sympathies of referee Blunden. However it was the non-punishment of the appropriately named Shave for a knee in the neck of Colin Hartburn
just before the interval than incensed the visitors most,
especially uncle George, who was banished to the stand. It would be interesting to see the attending assessors view of the incident!
In between times Dave King got a bit of exercise with
a routine save from Shave, who had managed to take advantage of a high Joe Vines
sliced clearance. However, Terrors countered
immediately, forcing an identical save from Behcet from
Fabian Batchelor.
Just before the half hour another Batchelor shot was
only half saved by Behcet and rebounded to new
midfield supremo Aaron Goode, who confidently knocked
in his second of the season. Five minutes later Paul Vines nearly made
it two with another header which just beat the crossbar from a
Hamlin feed.
Half Time: AFC Hornchurch 0 - 1 Terrors
The second half delivered little
in the way of excitement as Terrors seemed content to
let Hornchurch run around in circles. This
policy nearly backfired when, after eighteen minutes,
a harmless looking low cross inched across the six
yard box just waiting for a connecting toe.
Fortunately no such digit materialised and the only
serious home chance of the game had passed.
Jason Henrys
introduction, again for Batchelor, midway
through the half livened up the visitors, most
notably when the sub lined McLeod up for a
shot following a nice move down the right.
Dean Hamlin also exploited the wing option,
but despite some fine runs was unable to
provide a killer delivery.
Hornchurch
rallied for the last time with fifteen minutes
left, again bringing King into action, but it
was routine stuff and proved to be their last
throw of the dice. Same Claytons belated
introduction to proceedings provided a taster
for the quality that lies, as yet untapped, on
the bench, perhaps a useful warning that
competition for places is fierce.
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