Men's 3rd XI Vs West Bridgford 7

A glorious March afternoon welcomed South for a big game at West Bridgford, with everyone of a Forest persuasion arriving with massive grins on their faces, with full time having just blown down the road as everyone arrived pitchside. Having drawn the first meeting 2-2 in November, South knew it would be a tough game but one they could, and really needed, to win.

Knowing they needed goals, South set up in a funky all out attack formation, although this took a while to settle and WB dominated the early goings with South struggling for cohesion in midfield. WB took advantage on 10mins despite Craig Lawton's 427th goalline clearance of the season, with the rebound being recycled and WB's young attacker and best player by far putting in a smart finish from an angle. 5 minutes later WB scored again and I can't remember this goal so I'll describe it as 'scrappy', per match report tradition. Realising things weren't working out, captain Bingo moved Tom Brackenbury back to the bottom of a midfield diamond and this made a huge difference as South started to change the momentum of the game and create real chances, with the WB keeper making a strong save off Tom. South's pressure finally told though and a Toby Clough drag flick off a short pulled one back and it wasn't long after that that he was able to get to the backline and pull it back for Tom Boden to sweep home to level the scores. Another short corner a minute from the half lead to a goalmouth scramble and Andy Brinklow was unlucky to hit the post.

Happy to have regained charge of the game, South set out looking to get a winner in the second half and largely dominated, although Tom Cross and Craig had to be alert on a number of occasions to WB breaks and Simon Recaldin in goal made some excellent saves to keep the WB forward at bay and South in the game. At the other end South had the lion's share of chances but they all went just wide of the post with no one quite able to get a final touch. South's best chance came when Mike Shapland beat his man but could only watch as his shot came back off the post, the second time South had hit it. To make matters worse, that West Bridgford forward finally got one through on 65 minutes with a reverse stick strike from the top of the D leaving Simon no chance. Fortunately, with South desperate for an equaliser with barely a minute left on the clock Craig Lawton blasted the ball into the D from deep and Mike was able get a deflection that wrong footed the keeper and steal a valuable point and a 3-3 final score and extend the unbeaten run to 4.

It was an excellent game against well matched teams, and while South really needed 3 points, the late equaliser did at least see South leapfrog Boots, who lost at Barton, on goal difference. Unfortunately elsewhere Burton continued their slightly suspicious rise from the ashes with their 4th win in a row, following last week's win against top of the league Ashby with a 5-0 victory at Newark to go 3 clear of South.