Honington Foxes 1 Woodbridge Town 1

Sunday 4th November 2007

Team: Burgoyne; Archer; Abdel-Aziz; Hopkins (captain); Kekwick; Church; Read; Thurlow; Tripp; Stephenson; Portaluri. Subs: Dimuccio; Wickson. Half-time 0-1 Full-time 1-1 Goal scorer: Thurlow In what was always going to be a stern test the boys dropped their first points of the season, but showed great character to come back from one down at half-time to get a point to a team that had only missed promotion by the narrowest of margins last season. In fact in terms of chances and territorial advantage the team deserved much more and a scoreline of 3-1 to Woodbridge would not have flattered the side. The game saw Woodbridge adopt a new 4-5-1 formation with the absence of Laurence Portaluri’s regular strike partners, Marcus Taylor and Jack Christie. The team adapted well and for fifteen minutes competed well and played some good passing football with Caspar Church and Robbie Stephenson linking well with Laurence. The boys also had to cope with some tough tackling from a very competitive Honington team, who were back to full strength after their surprise defeat at the hands of Thurston last week. In this opening exchange Khaled Abdel-Aziz had to run off a foot injury following a stamp by an opponent that went unpunished. However as the half progressed Honington became more of an attacking force and their midfield began to take control of the game and on too many occasions Woodbridge players were not sharp enough in the tackle or not quick enough to the ball. The consequence was that Honington were able to run at the Woodbridge defence, but with Ben Hopkins outstanding throughout this period and Khaled also making some important challenges, it looked as though Woodbridge would weather the storm and take control, and on a number of occasions Woodbridge players had good chances to score the all important goal. Laurence was particularly unfortunate with one shot that went narrowly wide of the left hand post However with chances going begging the midfield fell into the trap of trying to play through the middle rather than spread the ball wide and the game again turned in Honington’s favour and Woodbridge had to defend a number of corners. Miles Kekwick dealt well with the first wave of these at the near post, but on the one occasion that the ball was only partially cleared, the ball was crossed in and the one opposition forward to cause our defence some headaches was given time to turn wide in the penalty area and his hooked shot through a crowd of players gave Emile Burgoyne no chance in the Woodbridge goal.  At one nil down the boys began to panic and too many boys were not putting a foot on the ball and the fluency of our passing was lost, although again the ball didn’t run for us when late on Aaron Thurlow struck the post with a powerful shot . The half time interval was needed to allow for the team to re-group and to get back to playing football. The team talk paid dividends and the boys listened to advice and dominated the second-half. The defence were superb and Emile had to deal with one shot that he turned around the post for a corner. Ben Hopkins and Khaled’s partnership continues to impress and right back Ashley Archer became more influential in the second half. The midfield also sharpened up and Sam Tripp, supported by Matthew Read, playing against his former team mates, began to dominate and win possession. Aaron Thurlow scored early in the half and a momentum began to build, with Giorgio Dimuccio causing problems on the right wing and it looked as though Woodbridge would get a second. Sam Tripp saw his lob over the keeper cleared off the line, while a last ditch tackle prevented Laurence from dispatching the ball. However it was not to be and even when Ewan Wickson made some surging runs from left back when he came on in the final ten minutes the Honington defence held firm. This was a much needed competitive game and the boys had to dig deep and show considerable resilience to get the draw. We will need to reflect upon some aspects of the game and the boys have to show greater composure and belief when chasing a game.