A first goal for Andy, and a first win

Today was the day. We came out to the game with high hopes. We wanted to win this game and as Epsom were the same as us at this stage, (yet to win a league game this year), we thought we stood a chance.

The game was quite tight for the first 10 minutes; you could have said that Epsom dominated it and in fact could have (and possibly should have) scored at least once as the Valley defence was decidedly brittle. But when Boastie scored our heads went up. From a short corner, Biddle pushed to Boastie, who hit it, the ball then deflected and came to Biddle, who once again pushed to Boastie where he first timed it to the back of the net off the half volley. You knew to get out the way because he shouted move before he had touched it and it whistled though at about knee height. That was just reward for the amount of effort Boastie was putting into the game.

We then controlled the game, especially dominating down the right with Andy, Josh, Boastie and new starter Dan Cookman at centre forward. Between these four, another short corner was soon won. The ball this time came out to Nuti where he hit it to the right post where Andy was loitering. Andy then deflected it first time over the line to score his debut goal for Valley. Now he has his first, we hope with his speed he will get some more. At this point, Epsom heads dropped a bit as they (probably justly) thought that the score-line was against the run of play. Equally, Valley could have scored a few more times before the break, but at half-time the score remained 2-0.

After half time Epsom came out attacking. They started getting short corners and after a few of these, their centre forward netted one with an excellent strike from the top of the D. The game then became a little tense and serious, which led to some tempers becoming slightly frayed. Both Dan and Thomas had chances for Valley. Hard tackles were being made and arguing with the umpire started. Then, about 5 minutes from the end, Epsom got a free hit in a good position at the top of the D. The ball came in and was kicked over the bar by the Valley captain Bacon (in true Frank Lampard fashion) as he was pushed to the ground – Epsom were awarded a long corner. The Epsom attack protested but Bacon remained unmoved on the claim of a push, believing it should have been a Valley 16 metre hit. The centre forward of Epsom wasn’t happy at all about this.

Epsom then took their long corner, followed by a short corner as the final whistle went. This then became another short corner with all the Epsom players on the Valley D and all the Valley fast runners behind the line. Epsom failed to convert these and so Valley won, 2-1. This was the first win of the season and with the dogged display like this will surely not be the last.

[Ed: Thanks to View from the left for the match report ]