OPPOSITION	Stevenage 5th XI
VENUE	Away
DATE	23-02-2008
RESULT	Won 3-2

With a vastly changed team from the previous week it was like a good 'soap opera' as we were playing the same club at the same venue at the same time !! With so many changes it was no surprise that Stevo managed to dominate for the first ten minutes before with PB's first attack on the classic counter a ball came to Shag just in the Stevo half laying off to Liam who ran on subsequently passing to the fast overlapping Dave Fennell from the right wing who slotted home from a difficult angle rounding off an excellent move.

This definitely took some of the wind out of the Stevo sails, however, 7 mins later stevo equalised from a short corner which allowed the Stevo scorer all the time to light, draw and inhale on a cigarette prior to shooting past Pete Simmons who again was generally effective standing in for a part of the match before Dave Smith arrived.

That proved to be the catalyst for adjustments to be made to strengthen the defence/midfield which proved to be very effective.

The rest of the half was somewhat scrappy with few real chances of which most opportunites fell to Stevo.

Out we came again with some slight changes but this time our younger midfield started to boss Stevo and a number of chances were created and several short corners almost got us ahead. Particularly impressive were Dave Fennell, Liam, Spencer, Ed O and Dave Brandon in defence. Bar got their reward midway through the second half when Adam (Munsen) was Jonny-on-the-spot with a 'fox in the box' positioned excellently doing what he does best and scoring from a rebound off the keepers pads who had saved from a Liam (I think) backstick shot.

At this point it seemed likely that PB would go on and comfortably win but Stevo resisted well and came forward with 12 mins left and won a few short corners, from one of which Dave 'smudger' Smith was nutmegged from the top of the D !! Very frustrating from all points - especially 'smudgers' - who performed well that apart. Still PB were fired up again and manged to score the winner and scored from a shortcorner with Spencer Randon's shot proving too strong for the keeper despite his best efforts.

Looking back this will probably prove to be a crucial and very hard earned victory in our push for the title and everyone who played without exception played either well or extremely well and worked hard.

Well done fellas !!

Scorers : Fennell, Pigden and Randon
Team : Dave Smith/Pete Simmons/ Steve Walters/Dave Brandon/Spencer/shag/Dave Fennell/Michael Levy/James Pearson /Ed Ogbourne/Alan Holford/Dave Blakey/Liam Frame/Adam Pigden/Toby Seaman

Umpire: Sarah Withers