Men's 2nd Team Vs Kingswinford 3rds

Kingswinford Thirds   3 V 2   CoBHC 2nds

Goalscorers:   Anthony Truelove, Ibrar Abbasi

Both the City of Birmingham men’s teams today were playing the top of their respective divisions. So both sides were expecting their toughest challenges of the season so far.

The second team started very strongly against 9 men of Kingswinford and got some early attempts on goal. Anthony upfront was again finding space for his team mates to get him the ball. Eventually Kingswinford got a full squad after about ten minutes and the game became more evenly matched. Both sides had lots of possession in the middle of the field, trying to thread through balls to the forward players. A few unforced errors in the CoBHC side lead to the home team taking a two-goal lead. The visitors although behind by two goals were never fazed by the score line and everyone worked hard to get back into the game. The wing play of Parameth and young Ismaeel was a delight to watch. When they got the ball they quickly turned and ran at the back line of Kingswinford giving them a torid time.

The difference between the two teams throughout the game was the home team managed more movement behind the defenders and threaded passes to the on running strikers. But the strong midfield of Jahed, Ash and Abbasi broke up many attempts and turned over possession countless times. This strong trio linked up together and at times spread the ball wide to get the wingers. The first goal from CoBHC actually began when Ismaeel received a pass from defence and turned and ran at the opposition and won a foul. From the resulting cross a goal mouth scramble eventually lead to Anthony turning in a close range shot to make it 2-1 at half time.

At half time the team shuffled positions as they sensed a victory was definitely a strong possibility by putting Stan up front. Again. Edan returned to the trusty left back roll, but Sean got an injury so the use of substitutes was very limited.

The changes were almost instant from the half time whistle. The home team were forced on the back foot for a solid ten minutes and CoBHC won many short corners, building up a strong spell of possession. The Kingswinford keeper was called into play on many occasions and saved good shots by Stan, Ash and Abbasi. Eventually a well pushed out injection found Stan who was quickly under pressure, so played the ball to Abbasi who powered his shot low and hard to make it all square at 2-2.

Further chances appeared and Anthony again had a creative chance on the back post but skittled it wide. Another short nearly gave the visitors the lead when Stan’s shot was going wide and Parameth got quickly to the post (after his injection) but was not low enough down to tap it in. The final chance the visitors got was in a crowded “D” and the ball fell to Stan, he saw the keeper charging out so decided to lob a high arching shot, everyone was beaten but it went narrowly over the cross bar. Both teams were now getting tired with ten minutes left and the home team began to get some counter attacks against the run of play. The defence of Ian, Paul and Edan jockeyed the charging attackers waiting for the midfield to support and this worked for a few onslaughts, but the team didn’t decide to hold out for a draw but to keep playing for the win they believed was a strong possibility. Unfortunately, another couple of errors gave the home team the all-important third goal and all three points. The narrowest of victories for Kingswinford 3’s, but the Second team Captain was proud of this performance. Ismaeel got a special mention as his improvements over his few games in the squad was outstanding. Stan reflected on our disappointments, comparing it with last season (with all the loses), how far we have come so quickly (if we stay as a group) and what the possibilities can be next season.