A desperately unlucky result today, going down 2-1 away to four-placed Whitchurch B. In unaccustomed conditions – it wasn’t raining in Wales – we started much the brighter of the two teams and it was somewhat against the run of play when Whitchurch broke, won a short corner and scored from it. Literally within a couple of minutes we were level after Reef drove along the baseline and set Alex up for a tap-in. Both sides had chances but thanks to a deft touch from Colm and then a good save from Mike Lilley onto the post, the scores remained level at half-time. Our usual strong second half followed and we pinned Whitchurch into their half for long periods, winning short after short. Alas, as in previous weeks, our unpractised short corners – double figures again – were our Achilles heel and the frustration of not being able to score after dominating the half was converted into agony when the young Whitchurch striker scored a wonder deflection to win the game at the death. Strong performances throughout the team but the novelty of having Simon Florio as left-back proved too much for the team, particularly for the youngsters who clearly craved a father-figure, and he was voted man-of-the-match, although Colm was hot on his heels with another exceptional performance at right-back. (Jake did point out that he had given up his usual left-back position to accommodate Simon and therefore he’s owed by the latter.) The four-man midfield manned by Ross, Hobbes, Kian, Doey and Jake certainly made it hard for Whitchurch to get the ball out of their half, while the movement of Winge, Alex and Reef up-front caused constant problems. All in all, a disappointing result but a really encouraging performance.