AFC GROUNDHOPPERS

League

 

Even with injuries to some key players; Sam Jacques (ankle), Ben Phillips (knee) & Tom Bolger (knee), Hoppers were able to field a very strong side against Club Langley. Adam Ballard, Jordan Brown, Taiwo (Tanny) Adebowale & Denzil Rolle all returned to give Hoppers a much-needed lift so no excuses.

 

AFC GH made a good start, forcing the opposition onto the back foot from the off. If it wasn’t for some excellent saves from the Langley keeper Hoppers would have been at least a couple of goals to the good. Joe Willis released Sam Dangerfield down the right, but his cross was not turned in.

 

Willis had his header cleared off the line from a corner before the Langley keeper made a fine save from Rolle at his near post. After a bundle in the box from another corner the Langley keeper somehow managed to react quick enough to keep the scores level.

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Kavan Burton tricked and teased is way past a couple of defenders before squaring to Johnston Brown but his drive from the edge of the area could only clip the crossbar.

 

Langley didn’t pose much of a threat going forward, so it was hard to take when the away side took the lead. It was from a corner that the ball somehow fell invitingly to a blue shirt who turned it in to make it 1-0. Hoppers rallied to claw one back before the break, but Willis was unable to beat the keeper who produced yet another stop. 1:0 HT

 

Three changes were made at half-time to give Hoppers some fresh legs and new ideas but, it was Club Langley that increased their lead. A low shot deceived Ballard and crept in-off the post.

 

A disjointed and frustrated Hoppers once again fell apart as we have seen in recent weeks and Langley took full advantage. Miss-timed passes and a lack of concentration allowed Langley to break on the counter. After a flag was raised and ignored by the referee the Langley player was able to bundle his way through and wrong foot Ballard to make it 3-0.

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Rather than admit defeat Hoppers finally showed some grit. Dangerfield twisted his defender and crossed for Marcus Black to touch in at the far post. Adebowale was causing Langley all sorts of problems and after doing all the hard work somehow squeezed his effort wide of the post.

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With plenty of time on the clock Hoppers were in the incentive. After a bit of neat play Black was released down the right but to the home sides frustration the flag was raised. Tensions were running high, and Ballard found himself sent off for decent before Joe Phillips was sin-binned for 10 minutes.

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3-1 down and down to 9 men Hoppers sparked into life. Johnston and Jordan Brown combined to release Rolle who found himself in-front of goal to make it 3-2.

 

Langley were on the ropes and couldn’t string a pass together even with a two-man advantage. Phillips returned for the last 15 minutes which gave Hoppers even more impetus. Eventually the 10-men combined well for Adebowale to slip in Jordan Brown who slotted home the equaliser. 3-3, FT.

 

Another frustrating morning for AFC GH but there were some positives to take from this performance. Rather than roll over and surrender we kept plugging away and in the end managed to recover and get a point when faced with adversity. We showed a lot of heart and in spells a bit of composure and class in possession. If we can cut-out these lapses of concentration with the same spirit and desire against Hatcham next weekend we will have enough to progress to the quarter-finals against Ex-Blues.

 

The League is our bread and butter, but we now need to win 10 out of 10 and hope that other results go our way if we are to get promoted this season. It’s a tough ask but we are more than capable. In the meantime, we have two cup games on the bounce starting with the Paul Picard Cup (League Cup) against Hatcham at home. We all want to win the League title but there is nothing better than a Cup Final. Let’s prove our quality on Sunday with a good performance and as Denz likes to put it “Pick up that W”.

 

The club would like to thank former-Hopper Charlie Adams for capturing some excellent action shots on Sunday morning. Hopefully Mr Adams will see the light next season and make a return to the yellow and blue shirt!

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AFC Groundhoppers

Adam Ballard, Bradley Ladeinde, Rob Biggs ©, Ollie Spedding, Kadeem Wallace, Johnston Brown, Denzil Rolle, Joe Phillips, Sam Dangerfield, Joe Willis, Kavan Burton, Jordan Brown, Taiwo (Tanny) Adebowale, Marcus Black