Cheam M3s 1-3 Woking M4s

By Chris Blackmore

In what had been a whirlwind start to 2017, Cheam 3XI’s momentum was halted by a resolute and organised Woking, who walked away with three goals, and all three points. In a match that was marred by freezing temperatures and flurries of snow, the cold disappointment was reminiscent of watching any Ice Age film over the age of 10.

Woking set up with a clear game plan, that included long range shelling of our defence with route-one balls up to the two centre-forwards, followed by an overload of charging midfielders. It was a simple plan, but executed so effectively that it baffled Cheam’s midfield and left the defence under threat on many occasions. However, the resolution of the Pearson/Molly CB partnership was robust enough to quell most of the danger, and behind them was the ever-courageous Blossom pulling off some decent saves to keep Cheam in the game. The real issue was two of Woking’s goals coming from unfortunate short-corner routines (something I find myself typing quite a lot recently…), and definitely this needs some work in training to ensure that we improve our defensive duties.

However, whilst most of my memories of this weekend’s match are ones being angry or frustrated, the result does not accurately convey the tightness and tenacity of this match. If it were not for some slippery footing, Smeagol had two occasions where his mazy run could have ended in a cracking reverse-hit. On top of that, Chris Powell and Steve were threatened the Woking defence to the brink early on, resulting in Steve (who else?) converting our only goal to give us a one-goal advantage.

In fact, the only real difference between the two teams was the speed of players’ decision making. Perhaps we needed a little longer to warm up in the arctic conditions of Nonsuch... But the dilly-dallying on the ball gave Woking time to reshape, and opportunities to pressurise our midfield and defence into making mistakes. We all have our off-days, and given our recent results this was not an indication of a tragic dip in form, but more a blip in what has been an exciting start to the year.

After only receiving four votes for MOTM and DOTD, I thought it best to take a leaf out of Trump’s book and just nominate my own candidates regardless of public opinion. Therefore, as much as it pains me to say it (and it might hurt him too if his ego swells any larger), I thought Taylor played incredibly well in all five positions he deputised in this weekend. Having someone so comfortable and adept at slotting in all over the field is very useful, and if he keeps being such a good ‘Utility Player’ I have all the more reason to call him a tool… As for DOTD, I have to throw shade at our Chairman, who after a short skiing trip last weekend, assured that he would be able to make an appearance ‘if needed’. Well, Krish was needed, but an appearance was never made… Instead he was off gallivanting in Cardiff to watch the rugby. Little did he know that Mike Brown played the full seventy minutes and still had enough time to get to Wales and play full-back!