Men's 1st XI Vs Barton 2

Barton 2’s 0 v 3 South Nottingham 1’s

STUART mills reports

On the back of their 11-1 victory last week; South putting their best side out of the season; Playing second bottom Barton, who they beat comfortably at home and a three nil score line, you’d have thought this was a comfortable win for South but they were made to work incredibly hard after a very disappointing first half display and a fantastic display by the Barton keeper.

On a slow pitch, South really struggled to find their rhythm early in the game. When they did, the two chances they created were squandered, which soon became the story of the game. The first half saw South give the ball away far too frequently and every outfield player guilty of giving the ball away cheaply.

But, as mentioned in previous reports, this South side has a bit about them. And the front three finally combined with Tom’s mishit found captain Gaz Bland, who found Carlos at the back post to scramble home to give South the lead.

South felt they had dodged a bullet but moments later the bullet hit them when Tommy P, who continued his solid form all season, was adjudged to have fouled the Barton forward and a penalty flick was given against South.

Fortunately for South, Sam Lane had been inspired by Tim Krul’s heroics during the week and guessed the right way to save South blushes in the first half.

A fiery half time talk followed with everyone aware that they needed to be better and a character is building in this side and they responded. South shifted to their 4-4-2 formation in response to their poor first half.

With the new formation, South pressed higher and immediately caused problems with the central midfield pairing similar to that of Man City of Matt Robinson (David Silva) and Stuey Mills (Kevin De Bruyne) getting hold of the ball and pulling the strings. The pace of wingers Gaz Rich, Archie and Ben causing lots of problems and the front three finding themselves in goal scoring positions. But for 20 minutes South pressed, dominated and created but the Barton keeper repelled with save after save.

As South pushes higher, they took more risks and were caught out and needed Sam to come to their rescue with a smart save and a smart clearance from younger brother Harry.

Full backs Tom Fletcher, who for me is improving every week and the always consistent Jim Ward pushing higher and higher and finally South had daylight with their second goal when Ben Ryder slotted home.

South weren’t done and Tom Crossland fired home from a short corner to give South a 3-0 win.

For me it was a great reaction in the second half and it just goes to show what a fantastic, competitive league this has been this season. Three big games to finish the season and South can go into them with optimism.