A hard worked for 5-5 draw away to Tring saw South Berkshire lose their 100% record but remain unbeaten and more importantly keep top spot in the league.
South Berkshire came into the game off the back of 4 straight wins. So being full of confidence from the previous games it came as a genuine shock to the system when Tring scored inside the first 2 minutes. Sensing a real opportunity of an upset Tring piled on the pressure and within these opening stages it was safe to say South Berkshire were hanging on. However, the team is full of quality players and it takes a lot to stop them. And so, it proved when Paul Kaplanski picked up a strong pass from the back line to play the perfect pass to Dan Ray who calmly levelled the scores. This was the start of a real tit for tat period between the two teams. Tring took the lead again only for Dan Ray to grab his second to keep things level. Paul Kaplanski gave South Berkshire the lead only for poor defending to let Tring equalise going into half time.
A strange half with South Berkshire not really at the races with only fleeting glimpses of the quality that has propelled them to the top of the league.
A change of formation was made and with clear instructions South Berkshire started the second half in a more controlled fashion. The game ebbed and flowed for the first 15 minutes with neither team really exerting any considerable pressure. As South Berkshire began to gain a bit more of a foothold in the match up stepped Mike “Amar” Amor to rifle in a low drag flick to give South Berkshire a deserved lead. This looked as though this would be the start of some dominance for South Berkshire and it certainly looked that way for 5 minutes or so as they peppered the Tring goal, but to no avail. There was then a 5 minute moment of madness as the South Berkshire team switched off allowing Tring to score 2 quick goals retaking the lead and threatening to end South Berkshire’s unbeaten start to the season. However, this South Berkshire team does not know when to quit and with 10 minutes to go grabbed a dramatic equaliser that proved to be the last real goalscoring chance of the game. A clever pass from Rob Badley after the keeper had initially saved allowed Sean Hardingham to grab his second goal in as many weeks. The game then petered out as both teams grew frustrated and the quality dipped with the final whistle coming somewhat as a relief to all.
5-5 was a crowd pleaser but both teams will not be happy with their performance. You can’t win every game, but you can battle through the poor performances and South Berkshire certainly did this turning a defeat into a draw. Next week they welcome the visit of Oxford as they look to get back to winning ways – defending will likely be the focus of this week’s training session!