The D’s this week took on Pultney away. Steve had a very new-look squad at his disposal, with 9 first season players & only 3 guys over the age of 25 inthe squad. A far cry from previous seasons where the average age has been close to 40 on some occassions.

With Robby Alberton missing at the back it meant Pete and Bill were paired at the heart of defence, with Tomas & Dimi on either side. Jose & Matteo were the wings, while Jason, Hamad & Steve were the 3 in midfield, with the industrious Chad up front.

The Pultney team looked a little old & slow, but it was soon obvious that their team was peppered with a few former A graders who were pretty handy footballers in their time.

For much of the first half though, the Whites looked good. With some flowing passing moves and aided by the Pultney defence being a little tentative at times, the boys strung quite a few passes together without every really threatening. In fact our only real chance of the half came from a lovely corner from Chad, which we almost managed to scramble through, but alas to no avail.

At the other end, Pultney had only really looked a chance on the break, but our back 4 had held strong, closing down all of Pultney’s attacking forays. In fact, Rob was just mentioning to me on the sidelines, the boys would be happy to be 0-0 at the break & only needed to hold on for 1 more minute as the Pultney winger cut inside Dimi, ran to the bye line & whipped his cross in. Unfortunately their big sriker got his toe to the ball before Lim got there, to dribble the ball into the back of the net. Down 1-0 at the half.

Chad came off at the half with a twinged hammy & Tomas came off also, with Ollie and Jack replacing them. Pultney however gained the ascendancy in the 2nd half, as Lim was forced into a number of saves & also had to rush out to cut off the through balls that Pultney were playing. Steve then replaced the wingers, with Jose & Hamad being replaced by Hayden & Dave, but it didn’t stop Pultney’s ascendancy.

Late in the 2nd half, Pultney managed to score 1 more & really it’s a surprise they didn’t score more as they took complete control of the midfield, winning all the 50/50 balls & generally bossing the play. Lim’s second half was absolutely top shelf, as he continually frustrated the Pultney forwards, both cutting off the through balls & making a string of excellent saves.

The end result 2-0 was probably fair, as we were well beaten in the end.
Best for us by a long way was Lim, with special mentions to Jason, Bill & late substitute Dave who showed some fight at the end.