Old Sedcopians FC 2 - 2 Clapham O.X. 1sts

With Scouse and Youngy away it was a makeshift defence that lined up at Mottingham for this league clash. Simon and Letmon slotted in at the back alongside Glen, with Neilly dropping himself to the bench to make room for the return of Whitey in midfield.

Seds started the match brightly and played some neat passing football without quite finding the killer final ball. Chris Heron almost opened the scoring after a great inswinging corner from James but just failed to connect with the goal at his mercy. Graham had a powerful shot that flew over and another low shot which the keeper blocked with his legs. A goal was coming and when it finally did it was a beauty. Chris Bonfield was put clean through on the keeper and as the Clapham keeper came out, Chris calmly dinked the ball over him and into the net.

The goal seemed to fire up Clapham though, and they started to put pressure on the Seds all over the park. The equaliser came after a bit of a scramble in the box. A cross was flicked on by Simon, and the Clapham striker nipped infront of Luc to poke the ball home. This was less than the Seds deserved for a decent first half performance, but 1-1 it was at half time.

Neilly decided it was time for him to grace the park with his presence early in the second half, bringing himself on for James and moving Chris Bonfield to left back and Graham up front. This appeared to help the Seds, with Neilly's strength in the midfield helping them win more ball, and Graham getting more of the ball in dangerous positions up front. Indeed Graham was involved in the move which led to the Seds regaining the lead. There seemed little danger when Chris B slipped a ball down the line to Graham, but with a drop of the shoulders and a couple of neat touches he created some space to fire a great cross to Chris Heron at the back post. The first effort was blocked but when the ball broke to Chris again his second effort was deflected past the Clapham keeper at his near post. A scrappy goal but a lead the Seds deserved at that stage, and the Seds top scorer was more than happy to claim it!

To their credit, Clapham didn't even think about giving up. As the second half wore on the Seds found themselves more and more on the back foot. After a series of corners for Clapham, and a couple of dangerous looking breakaways for the Seds, it began to look like the Seds would hold on for the 3 points. The Clapham winger had other ideas though, and when the ball was headed out to the edge of the box with 5 minutes to go, he struck a fine first time drive into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. The Clapham managers celebration sprint down the touch line showed how much it meant to them!

Clapham appeared to settle for the draw at this stage, and they might have payed for this as the Seds suddenly started to look dangerous going forward again. A great defence splitting pass by Neilly almost set up a winner, but in truth it would've been harsh on either side to lose in what was a smashing match.

Overall a decent result without playing to our best, against one of the better sides in the league. With the Seds still top of the league, it'll be vital to get back to winning ways next week against Chertsey. It will be intersting to see how Clapham fare also, away to Old Challenors in the clash between the 2nd and 3rd placed teams.