It’s been a frustrating couple of months, yes because of the 3-0 defeat to Reading pre Christmas but more because of the weather and the folding of yet another team in the league which meant we were pretty rusty when Eastcote came to visit last week and earned a 1-1 draw. This week’s trip to Wallingford saw a return to better form (except for the attacking short corners - least said about those the better).

After a better warm-up / knock-up than the previous week Terriers started strongly. A decent Wallingford side were no push over but there was a good intensity about the play and a number of good attacks that just lacked the final product. Sam Moors was unlucky to see his shot go wide having found himself in a great position to connect with a cross from the right. Tony Heaver came close to converting a short (easily the best of a bad bunch). Meanwhile there were times when Wallingford did break through the middle and we were left a little exposed at the back. Late on in the half the breakthrough finally came when Aaron Smith slapped home a chance off a loose ball in the D.

At half time Neil asked us to concentrate on recovering more sharply after the play had broken down and also intensity in our passing. Wallingford were good at tackling and we needed to play it round them, they’d also looked dangerous on occasion playing well through the middle with their own passing game.

Having taken this onboard the second half was better. There was particularly good attacking down the right from Ollie Field and Aaron, supported by Ash Stratton and Tony in the midfield. Alex Cook also had a great half both in attack but also crucially in defence, given that Wallingford certainly weren’t about to roll over and indeed had been bolstered by an additional player who looked decent. A number of Terriers chances went begging, Wallingford’s excellent young keeper pulled off a miraculous save to deny Duncan Wigget a deserved goal, Robbie Campion had a shot saved on the line by Wallingford’s Big Dave.

The ever industrious Tom Ellwood’s match ended after he took a nasty blow to the head. (Good to hear afterwards that he’s all checked out and okay). With Tom off the field and Ash taking his place the last 5 minutes were frantic as Wallingford tried to even things up but Terriers kept attacking, with that right hand side looking particularly strong. After Aaron again showed great skill to penetrate the D his pass was blocked came up off a defenders stick, Robbie parried in down from chest height to Greg Bertoloni who slapped the ball home to settle the tie. Fair reward for a good team performance and another deserved clean sheet for Tom Nance.