CROYGAS 0-2 BATTERSEA IRONSIDES

Ironsides came out on top in a competitive Surrey Cup fixture against an always tough opposition in Croygas. After an appeal to FIFA, Neil Harman saw his lifetime ban from the Croygas sports ground overturned, and was able to oversee the game from the touchline. After an even start, Julian Green put the Ironsides ahead on 25 minutes, after shrugging off the centre half from Croygas and coolly lobbing the goalkeeper. This settled the game down, and allowed the Ironsides to play a little more football. Ironsides tested the keeper several times, with the Croygas bench applauding their keeper for fine saves, but the Ironsides bench critical of missed chances that should really have been converted. In the second half, Ironsides started where they left off, with several more good chances missed. Ernie Kendall arguably missed the easiest of the chances from a few yards out, directing his shot at the keeper rather than the open goal in front of him. However, he immediately made amends by heading in at the far post from the resulting Steve Stacey corner, giving the Ironsides a cushioned lead. The final half hour saw Tony Eden and Julian Green miss good chances to put the game to bed, and were almost made to pay when Croygas had several chances of their own saved in the final ten minutes by the outstanding Ian Peddle in goal, giving Ironsides their second clean sheet in a row, and a ticket to the next round of the cup.

OXTED 0-1 BATTERSEA IRONSIDES

Ironsides won again on a Saturday in a hard fought game. They started well, taking the game to Oxted, and could have been two or three up in the first 20 minutes. In the 21st minute they eventually scored when Theo Parker placed the ball in the corner of the net to give Ironside a deserved lead. Ironsides had to withstand some over the top tackling from theopposition, which went unpunished by the referee. In the second half Ironsides continued to play well, without adding to their lead. Despite losing Ernie Kendall in the final 10 minutes for a second yellow card, the Ironsides saw out the remainder of the game, to confirm their recent improvement in form and give them another 3 points.

RIPLEY VILLAGE 1-3 BATTERSEA IRONSIDES

It was not looking like being the Ironsides day when Gary Gateson's car broke down on the A3. Four of the team had to be rescued on the hard shoulder, which delayed kick off for 40 minutes. In addition, three players did not show up to the game all all, and would have surely faced the wrath of their manager, if it were not for the all round dominating display put on by the players who did turn up. Ironsides pressed for the first quarter of the game, and on 22 minutes, a great through ball inside the full back gave Junior Mitchell a run in on goal, who coolly slotted home into the corner of the net to give Ironsides the lead. Ironsides continued to press having several chances. Ten minutes before half time, Matt Shelton put the Ironsides 2-0 up, which capped an excellent first half. The second half started in the same vain, with Ironsides pressing and making several chances. In the 60th minute, a Steve Stacey free kick was headed in by Junior Mitchell for his second of the game. On 65 minutes, Ripley missed a chance to get back into the game, when a rash challenge by Robbie McMahon gifted them a penalty. A fine save by Ian Peddle kept the scoreline at 3-0, but with 15 minutes to go, Ripley pulled a goal back from a corner to make the game 3-1. Two minutes later Ironsides were down to 10 men when Julian Green was sent off. However, the Ironsides continued to dominate and saw out the remainder of the game comfortably. It was the best all round performance of the season so far, in adverse conditions, with several players individually having their best game for the Ironsides.

HORSLEY 1-1 BATTERSEA IRONSIDES

The first round of the league cup saw the Ironsides drawn away to Horsley. The Ironsides looked the better of the two teams for much of the first half, and were unlucky not to take the lead on several occasions, but some quality goalkeeping from the Horsley keeper kept the game level. The deadlock was broken in the first half when a Horsley defender was deemed to have pushed an Ironsides player in the box, leaving the Home team's dugout scratching their heads. Ernie Kendall scored the penalty with conviction, and the Ironsides went into half time 1-0 up. The second half saw very few chances, but a controlled display from the Ironsides. The game was halted by a horrific challenge on Roy Smithen, who was knocked unconscious for several minutes, before returning to his feet, eager to play on, but the Ironsides management thinking better of it. The referee deemed the challenge fair, and not so much as a free kick was awarded. A penalty miss from Horsley mid way through the half gave the Ironsides more confidence that they could see the game out, but in the last 15 minutes, a corner to the far post was headed back, and put in from close range to give Horsley a barely deserved equaliser. The introduction of Tony Eden and Paul Bussetti to the game didn't have a great effect on the overall performance, and in the dying moments of extra time, Theo Parker missed a great chance to give the Ironsides the win, but the game was ultimately destined to be won or lost on a penalty shoot out. Unfortunately, the Ironsides continued a remarkable run of never winning a penalty shoot out on Saturdays, and will have to look to the league and Surrey Cup for success this year.

For the record, I think it would be unfair to single out individuals in the team who put themselves forward to take penalties, but if you are interested in seeing Ian Peddle, Martin Taylor and Tony Eden embarrass themselves from 12 yards, or if you simply are looking to improve your penalty taking technique, and need advice on what NOT to do, the video of the shootout is available on YouTube on the Battersea Ironsides channel, accessed from the BIFC website.

BATTERSEA IRONSIDES 3-2 VIRGINIA WATER

Whilst the bright sunshine of last week was all but a distant memory, the Ironsides hot streak was not to be broken despite the best efforts of a well organised Virginia Water side. In the first Surrey Cup match of the season, a good start was rewarded within 25 minutes, with a Julian Green goal coming from a Tiro Pascale free kick from near the corner flag. Ironsides looked comfortable, until an avoidable Virginia Water corner was given away by the Ironsides defence, and was flicked in at the near post to bring the game level. Soon after, a free kick was punted in to the box by Virginia Water from the half way line, and the Ironsides gave away a needless penalty. Despite the initial foul in the area probably being by the Virginia Water forward, the referee thought otherwise, and Ironsides went 2-1 down. The second half started with the Ironsides losing their way, and Virginia Water almost put the game beyond the Ironsides when their forward was sent clear with Ironsides committing men forward in search for an equaliser, but to Ironsides relief, the effort was fired wide of the mark. In the last 20 minutes, things looked bleak for the Ironsides, with 2 penalty appeals rejected, one of which, with the help of video evidence, looked as clear as day. However, the introduction of Martin Taylor and Ernie Ako gave the Ironsides stability at the back, and width in attack respectively. The Ironsides started to force the Virginia Water team deeper and deeper, and sustained pressure was rewarded with 6 minutes to go in the game. A long throw from captain Robbie McMahon was knocked in with a powerful header by Roy Smithen at the far post. In typical Ironsides spirit, rather than settle from extra time, they pushed for a winner, and were rewarded in the dying moments when good play by Ernie Ako was followed up by a good cross by Ernie Kendall, which in turn was met by Tiro Pascale, who twisted his neck to head a looping header towards the far post, leaving the despairing Virginia Water keeper scrambling back, but the placement was perfect, and the Ironsides took a deserved 3-2 lead to secure a place in the next round of the cup. For 2 weeks running, the Ironsides showed great character to come from behind, and the spirit which will be needed to be potential cup winners this season.

CRESCENT ROVERS RESERVES 4-0 BATTERSEA IRONSIDES A'S

Another heavy defeat for the ‘A’s on Saturday puts them into the wrong half of Junior Division Two.
Missing key players in defence and particularly in goal the ‘A’s young and inexperienced side were undone by sloppy defending to go behind in the tenth minute. Failing to clear from the edge of their penalty area the Crescent left midfielder was allowed to cut in at run at the defence without really being challenged dispatching a low drive past the stand in keeper Alfie Brown. Ten minutes minutes later it was 2-0 when after initially winning the ball back on the edge of his box, James Denison tried to play out from the back, and with the pass on wide to Andy Zaharia out on the right, he took one touch too many and was caught in possession, and once again the ‘A’s found the ball nestling in the back of their net.

The ‘A’s then got their act together and began to pass the ball around with accuracy and confidence and looked like an altogether different team. The ball was moved across the midfield from left to right and right to left but they lacked cutting edge and for all their good build up play failed to create a clear cut chance. The ‘A’s finished the half on top but their sloppy start meant going in at half time with it all to do. Dimitry Tarlet was brought into the game for the injured Chris Denison at half time. Dimitry and midfielder Alex Adams making their debuts for the club. The ‘A’s started the second half brightly, Tarlet very lively up front and Adams settling into the game but the ‘A’s again having no real cutting edge in the final third. As the half went on, gaps started to appear in the ‘A’s defence and they began to get stretched as they tried to get back into the game. Luke Sullivan and the excellent Paul Mildon were doing their utmost to keep the deficit to two but tired legs and heads let Crescent seal the win when a free kick to the right of the penalty area was allowed to be taken short, the ball being squared to the penalty spot and fired into the net. It was soon four as the ‘A’s midfield started to forget their defensive duties and leave the back four exposed, a quick break from the Crescent attack being fired into the roof of the net and sealing the win for Crescent. A heavy scoreline but one that flattered Crescent. The ‘A’s played some excellent football and have a young exciting squad. A little naive maybe, but full of potential and lots to look forward to for the rest of the season.

BATTERSEA IRONSIDES SUNDAY TEAM 8-1 CROYGAS

Battersea came into the game looking to close in on the league leaders and build on their first win of the season against Kingsborough. The Irons started brightly dominating the early possession and it looked to be only a matter of time before they took the lead. Sure enough on 20 minutes Battersea opened the scoring through Ben Nyarko’s cross come shot that sailed into the top corner from the left touchline. Soon after the lead was doubled with Nyarko finishing from close range following some good work in the penalty area from Rob McMahon. Battersea were threatening to run riot putting together some good passing moves whilst Tyrone was causing the Croygas left back all sorts of problems.

Battersea started the second half with a blitz of goals as the opposition struggled in the searing heat. Nyarko completed his hat trick with a penalty dispatched into the top right corner. Duncan Kent-Smith soon added to the scoreline capitalising on a mistake by the Croygas keeper. Croygas then scored on a rare foray into the Battersea half with a spectacular 25-yard effort. Battersea were unfazed by this and soon added to the scoreline. Terry Reid was given the chance to score his first goal for the club from the penalty spot following some good work from Theo in drawing the foul. Terry made no mistake smashing the ball into the roof of the net. A sixth came soon after with Theo spinning with the balance and poise of a ballerina to finish in predatory style from Tyrone’s free kick. Nyarko then scored his fourth goal of the day running onto a pass from Theo Parker before finishing expertly with his wrong foot. Dale Kitchen completed the scoring following a double one two with Parker which left those on the sideline wondering if they were watching Battersea or Barcelona. With sterner test to come Battersea will be looking to continue their impressive form going into the next game against unbeaten Sutton Albion.