Malborough & Hope Cove FC 2-1 South Brent reserves

Having not played a match for all of three weeks, Boro were understandably rusty, and it needed a sturdy second half display in strong wind to come through this match with all three points.

Brent, playing with the wind in the first half, were the first to get the ball down and play some football, and went close in the first few minutes with a shot that flashed just past Steve Avent’s far post.

It wasn’t long before their pressure paid off, Danny Gregory was adjudged to have jumped unfairly with a Brent player in the box and a penalty was awarded. Confidently, the penalty was slotted away, sending Avent the wrong way.

This seemed to wake Boro up and in the five minutes after going behind, James Whitley was denied only by a defender blocking his shot and Wayne Kovacic fired over from a tight angle.

Soon after however, Gregory redeemed himself. Picking the ball up just inside the Brent half, he surged forward and shot from just outside the area, the keeper got his hands to it but couldn’t prevent the ball from crossing the line.

In the second half, Boro were again slow to start and kept losing the ball far too easily. However, luckily for them, Brent weren’t able to capitalise on their superior share of the possession.

It took twenty minutes for Boro to threaten. Harry Dawson and Gregory combined in the centre, and the latter put Rob Hutchings through on the left. His cross was just too high for Kovacic and Butcher was unable to bring the ball down. Boro won the ball back, and it found its way to Dawson who, on the edge of the area, unleashed a shot that bounced down off the crossbar onto the line and then out.

Desperate for all three points, manager Mike Stone decided to move defender Dan Batchelor into attack, a change that had immediate success. His strength in the air put through Joby Barraclough, whose shot was well saved by the keeper. Just as it looked as if there would be no way through, Batchelor picked up the ball and threaded a neat ball through to Dawson who shot across the keeper and into the net.

Boro managed to hold on, Richard Bostock and Mike White both having superb games at centre-back keeping out the Brent strikers. Boro’s season finishes this Saturday with a crucial away game at Riviera Spurs, which could decide who finishes in fourth spot.