Central 0 (0) v Colyton 1 (0)

A mild October day brought the visit of Colyton to KGV.

With Central still missing Noah in goal, Joey and Max shared the duty this week.

The additional loss of Sam Plumer meant Cameron had to resume his old position in the heart of the defence.
Central started the game brightly playing up the slope and an early chance for Dylan saw his shot blocked by the goalkeepers legs. It was clear that a well weighted pass through the Colyton defence would see Dylan out power his marker. Unfortunately despite good possession for the first thirty minutes only one further clear chance came when Dylan's shot was turned around the post. Central could not find that killer pass.

A very good energetic half an hour saw no goals for Central, and the opposition would gain encouragement by still being on level terms.

The last ten minutes of the first half saw Colyton start to gain some possession and just before half time they had a dipping effort that struck the inside of the post and was cleared away to safety. It was 0-0 at half time, but on the balance of play Central really should have been in front.

The half time talk was a simple message of 'keep it going'.

The second half kicked off and despite spurning a good opportunity early on, Central's command of the game had deserted them. The balance to the team was lost and Colyton looked the better team.

Ten minutes in and Central fell behind to a close range shot in the box.

Several tweaks to the line up didn't help and the next twenty minutes saw Central limited to a couple half chances from distance, with Colyton remaining the team most likely to score.

At 1-0 down and ten minutes to go, at last, Central started to look up and find their passes. Probably playing their best football of the season so far, they cut open the Colyton defence on 3 or 4 occasions. With accurate through balls releasing Charlie on the wing, nobody could apply the defining touch as he whipped several good balls across the six yard box.

The final whistle blew and Central had suffered their first league defeat of the season.

The games will get harder than this, so we need to start maintaining a higher level of performance for the full 80 minutes. Unfortunately playing well for half the match will not win many games.