Match report Old Southendian 1s v Saffron Waldon 1s Another near miss for the old boys. Another Saturday arrived for the first team who were looking to turn their fortunes around at the fortress (looking more like an abandoned outpost so far this season). Availability issues meant a depleted backline was in operation due to a sore ankle and a holiday for our very own sabbatical guru. That makeshift backline was under the cosh from the start and a heavy touch by Will Nolde (hence why I’m writing this) from a deflection handed the opposition their opening goal - claims of his own sore ankle having a part to play fell on deaf ears. The Old boys then seemed to match the visitors in the opening stages of general play and a Billy Taylor upright backhand pulled us level. Naturally as has been our issue so far this season, we let the opposition go ahead again. After defending the initial attack on our goal, we turned the ball over just outside the d and Saffron punished us quickly within three passes to score another tap in. The rest of the half was fairly even with the home side probably dominating possession a bit more and the away side just trying to create chances on the break. Half-time arrived and the score was 2-1; the message from within the camp identified that despite individual mistakes we were well in this game and needed a big response to ensure we got something from it. The next 10 minutes were all Old Southendian and we started to pile the pressure on as green and yellow cards were given to Saffron Walden. A neat short corner routine led to el capitano scoring or капитан as he’s known in his homeland. Rejuvenated from Connor’s finish, we pushed for the lead. Despite our enthusiasm, we turned over the ball high up the pitch due to some poor decision making and we never really slowed down their counter-attack as they scored another tap in to make it 3-2 to Saffron Walden. In self-destruct mode we failed to communicate on another fast break by Saffron Walden and they won a short corner (the only reason they didn’t score from the fast break was because John made a worldie save from a 1v1). The opposition then scored the drag flick from that short due to some poor short corner defence - feel free to question the 1s about how you should run out from a short corner. The good thing is, this team has plenty of fight and we just make it too hard for ourselves at the moment, we scored a goal through the opportunistic Alfie Hibbard to make it 4-3 to Saffron Walden and pushed hard for an equaliser that never arrived. Now firmly in a relegation clash, the boys travel to Broxbourne next week knowing a win sees them off the bottom of the table. Man of the match - Mr grumpy himself - Billy Taylor