Chawton Athletic entered into this cup tie; after an enforced two week break; on high spirits and raring to put up a bit more of a battle than in previous fixtures.
They were immediately dealt a blow when Bob and Lee both had to pull out, so Chawton's 14 on paper had dissolved to 12.
Setting up in familiar 4-4-2 formation, Matt in goal, Rich and Shaun at centre back, Martin and Liam at full back, Seth and Rich E in the middle of midfield, Ben right midfield, young Shaun left midfield, with George and Si leading the line up front.
After many discussions on tactics but lacking the leadership of either Bob or Alex, the general consensus was to try to play a little deeper at the back this week, to try and ensure that we were not caught by the long ball and as the game kicked off it immediately paid dividends.
Exchange though started brightly were stifled by the workmanlike Chawton, both sides settling into their respective passing games.
The first chance fell to Exchange as the Chawton defence were caught a little square at the back, and despite their calls for offside, the referee waived the game on the Exchange striker bore down; one on one on Matt's goal, the keeper doing well to stay tall and palm to safety before scrambling to collect and start another break.
Shaun, Seth, Rich E and Ben were all exceptionally industrious in midfield and soon were stretching their Exchange opponents, Ben doing well to beat his man several times down the right hand side.
Chawton survived a couple of scrappy passages of play, Matt snuffing out several chances and confidently claiming corners. During that Liam caught a very solid blow to the head whilst executing a great tackled clearance; it clearly shook him up and he took some time out to recover but soon re-joined the fray making visible contributions.
And then the deadlock was broken, Rich E drifting to the left in possession, cut back on to his favoured right foot, and placed a superbly lofted ball over the stretching Exchange centre back finding George.
George's one touch control took him clear of the last man and he honed in on goal, the Exchange keeper perhaps surprised by his first piece of real action seemed slow to advance and George hammered the ball home past him into the corner of the net. A superbly taken goal, which was celebrated in excellent style by George.
Chawton, though perhaps fortunate for the lead, looked very settled with their new found success, (having only scored in one game prior to this one and certainly never having taken the lead before) they passed the ball round confidently, and despite the odd half chance had restricted Exchange to shooting from long distance which rarely troubled Matt.
Chawton forced a corner, from which Ben's well struck shot screwed past the post. But just when it looked like Chawton had weathered the storm, Exchange struck back to level. Matt being left with no chance as the Exchange striker smashed to ball home high into the corner from 20 yards.
Chawton's heads dropped a little and Exchange grew in confidence, Matt having to smother well at the feet of the striker, catching a well struck shot and palming aside another one on one.
The Half time whistle went with the game evenly balanced at 1-1. The break seemed to restore the confidence in the Chawton boys, and knew we had a great opportunity in the second half having competed so brilliantly for the first 45 minutes.
And so the second half kicked off, Chawton settled back into the game well, Martin and Rich P marshaling the defensive line well and ensuring that Chawton's eagerness to push on did not leave them vulnerable at the back.
Seth and Rich E had swapped slightly in the second half, giving Seth a more defensive role; sat in front of the back four and he helped to mop up the Exchange attacks, whilst Rich E's more unrestricted role enabled him to affect the game a little more.
Fifteen minutes in and the scheduled change of Paul for Seth was altered slightly and with it came a total shift. Paul came on for Shaun, with Liam going up front, Si to right back, Paul to Left back and Martin moved across to partner Rich at centre back. Chawton still looked dangerous on the break but Exchange were now looking like the better footballing side. Rich P, Martin, Si and Paul all doing well to stifle the Exchange forwards, whilst the tireless George, young Shaun, Liam and Ben looked dangerous as the Exchange defence pushed higher and higher up the pitch trying to push home their advantage.
Exchange's dominance was tempered by their poor choices and equally poor finishing, all the time Chawton soaking up the pressure and all the time always in it.
Then a magical moment as Liam was set away by a great through ball and confidently struck the ball home under the Exchange keeper. Against the run of play but Chawton gleefully accepted the advantage.
Back came Exchange but their poor finishing again were their downfall. Matt did have a scare as a routine cross evaded his grasp and he required Si's intervention to maintain that advantage.
The tension started to affect both sides and tempers flared several times throughout the game, none more so when Matt, feeling slighted by a late challenge as he came to collect another corner and making the Exchange player very aware of his feelings on the matter. The playful push turned into quite a shoving match with Matt wisely deciding the floor was the safest place to be, the referee doing well to restore order as the Chawton boys rallied round to protect one of their own.
Exchange chances were coming thick and fast as Chawton were drawn deeper and deeper, Chawton finding it difficult to clear their lines. Two chances falling late on as a header struck the post and then defensive moment of the match as Martin's attempted header back to Matt fell at the feet of an Exchange player, pulling back his foot to fire at goal, he was thwarted by a superbly timed tackle by the tireless Si.
And so the final whistle; a momentous 2-1 victory for Chawton, very probably not really deserved, but the cohesion and fitness is finally making an appearance.
Chawton progress to the semi finals where they face Blue Bells in this the short filled Challenge cup competition.
Blog man of the match was almost very nearly impossible to decide, several real contenders with special mentions for both goal scorers; Liam who did brilliantly after the kick to the head to score the winner later in the game and George who closed down and hassled the Exchange defenders in the second half and who took his goal superbly, but the Blog Man of the Match goes to Si, for his excellent all round play and his match winning tackle at the end.
Next fixture away to Royal Oak at Bohunt again.
Just a quick reminder about the Farnham Sunday football league website, which is hosted by Sports Today.
Follow this link http://www.sportstoday.co.uk/
Choose results from the choices at the top of the page
Then Surrey from the England drop down box
Click on the Farnham & District Sunday league.
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