Herstmonceux - 23's suffer first defeat

Herstmonceux -23's travelled to Wittersham in what proved to be their biggest test of the season so far.

Going into the game the -23's were up for it, with stand-in captain Tyler Greeves, Assistant Manager Waylon Smith and Jack Tutty hyping the boys up. Herstmonceux went onto the pitch and started off stingy: winning every ball, working well together and piling the pressure on the home team. From the off the defence were solid which in turn led to the midfield picking the ball up and with Curtis Eyres slotting through a lovely through ball for Mark Stillwell to chip the keeper in ecstatic fashion, the 'ceux were off to a flying start.

Straight from the kick off Herstmonceux piled on the pressure again, tying up every loose ball, with Waylon Smith and Russ Blewitt dominating the midfield early doors. Again a ball over the top from Russ Blewitt this time saw Stillwell 1 on 1 with the 'keeper and yet again he slotted home for his second goal of the game in the space of ten minutes.

The -23's were on top, pressing and winning everything for the first 20 minutes with high intensity which led to a few people getting tired legs, and the home side slowly built their way into the game and with a ball over the top the away sided found themselves nicking a goal and bringing the score to within 1, but the -23's were having none of it, and picked it up putting bodies on the line, none more so than Waylon Smith who charged a ball from a free kick and found his face on the receiving end of a rocket sending him to the ground.

Herstmonceux were again on top and with Eyres picking up the ball he sent Stillwell away on a driving run into the box only to be tripped. The referee pointed to the spot and up stepped Stillwell who slotted home the ball for his hat trick. The away team were looking strong but the home team showed some resilience and took the game to their opposition, showing that they were not prepared to back down, pinching a goal back on the stroke of half time to make it 2-3.

Half time came and Russell Blewitt had to come off due to an injury which would prove a big loss for the away side, who had to make positional changes. The home side came out hot, and were winning everything in the air, and within minutes they had levelled the score at 3-3. At this point Herstmonceux heads dropped instantly and the home side could see this and piled the pressure on,soon finding themselves 4-3 up from a penalty. The 'ceux looked to push on and get the equaliser but could not break down the home team's defence, and from another counter attack yet again Wittersham received a penalty and found themselves 5-3 up. This was the nail in the coffin and you could see from the away team that they were becoming frustrated. With the last 10 minutes approaching Waylon Smith who had fought hard throught the game had to come off because of the block he had made earlier, This left Herstmonceux with 10 men to see the game out. Tutty went all out with a final push with substitutes Tom Wickens, Kyle Welfare and Kieren Hill making a back three, leaving Tyler Greeves to push on. The home team pressed again and with a charging run Dan Smith came off his line to give away a penalty, but in true 'head up and redeem yourself' style he pulled off a beautiful save in the bottom right hand corner. But the home side had one last thing to say and broke the defence to make the final score 6-3 with only minutes to spare. Full time and 6-3. This truly was a game of two halves.

Manager Jack Tutty would like to say that Harry Glenister and Callan Johnson, in their first games for the club, looked strong causing problems to the Wittersham defence. Man of the Match went to Waylon Smith for a brilliant midfield fight, putting everything on the line for the club.

The -23's now look forward to Icklesham, a tough game, where they will be looking to fight back.