Boro' travelled to Edenbridge this week to face top of the league Nomads B in what was expected to be a tough battle. Unusually Boro' 3rd's took control of the game straight away and knocked the ball around nicely. Captain Elliot Phipps lead his back four from the word go and it filtered through the team. The chat on the pitch was much much better this week for most of the game and it was nice to hear so many different voices rather than just the same people. Unfortunately, the dreaded early goal against us occurred again this week but, this time it was completely against the run of play. However, everyone got their heads up and their minds back on fast this time and it paid off. Mark Robertshaw and Tommy Dickerson were controlling the middle of the pitch with Mark putting in some fantastic tackles and Tommy picking out passes to the wide boys. Matty Reeves and Jake Fairweather on the flanks were causing the young Nomads side alot of problems and it was Jake Fairweather who got the score level with some great individual work on the left, shooting from a tight angle. The shot being too hard for the keeper to deal with. We didn't stop there though! Before long we'd taken the lead after great work from Sam Hill (who was battling on with a hamstring injury) and clever footwork from Jake Chandler (playing his first game up top). The defenders just couldn't deal with Jaksey's great run and brought him down in the box as he was setting himself to shoot. A blatent penalty! Up stepped Matty Reeves and he tucked it away superbly. Before we reached the end of the half there was time for one more. We were totally in control and the young Nomads side had little to offer, all of them looking shell shocked as Jakesy broke free and finished with class giving the keeper no chance! At half time, we came in 3-1 up and every man could come off the pitch happy with his performance so far. A complete contrast to just 7 days previous!! The strikers had run hard, chased everything down and linked up well with midfield who in turn had conrolled the play in the middle and made space and caused trouble on the wings, the defenders had dealt with what they had to calmly and precisely and player manager Jim Moon who'd had to step in late on to keep goal had saved everything that came his way comfortably.

Nomads were a different team in the second half and knew they were really up against it after being out played for the entire first half. They had alot more fight in them and got alot more of the ball but, we were still in control with Mark and Tommy setting the pace of the game. Boro' brought on Joel Warmington and Craig ''Barn'' Kirwan at half time and they settled in straight away. We were causing alot of problems upfront and Barn was putting in some awsome work rate, chasing everything down and causing defenders to rush their passes. Again, Boro's play paid off and Reevsie got away from his marker to round the keeper on the second time of asking to make it 1-4 in our favour. I feel we need to pay alot of respect to the Nomads side at this point because, although now arguing between themselves, they never gave up and kept battling on. The last quarter of the game infact was really all them. They threw everything they had at us and in a way this was good to see. That probably sounds a bit backward but anyone on the sideline will tell you that we proved again that we have another string to our bow. We now know we can soak up a whole load of pressure and hit teams on the counter attack, using the width and we could on a few occasions of added to the lead we already had. Elliot commanded at the back throughout the periods of pressure and was immense in the air. As was Pete Thompson and Joel made some absolutely amazing tackles. Anything that was goal bound was picked out of the air superbly by Jimmy Moon in goal. And Stu Norris dealt with everything down the left. With 25 mins to go, Alan Fortunato came on at right back and was really strong in the tackle, not giving attackers any time on the ball. Nomads pressure did pay off right at the end when they grabbed a second goal but it was Boro's day and a great day at that!!

In summary.
Not as pretty to watch as Awawy to Borough Green but still by far our best performance so far this season. Well done to everyone involved. We got our heads on fast, controlled the game and the pace, tackled superbly and chased down players (They didn't like it up em!!!), and when needed we showed grit and fight and learned we are seriously dangerous on the counter. Special mentions have to go to everyone this week but there are a few I have to name. Man of the Match Tommy D was fantastic all day in the middle, As was Mark who tackled hard throughout, Jakesy done great playing up top for the first time and Elliot commanded everything that came near him. Jake F ran hard all day, Matty for two great finishes and Joel's tackling was great to watch!! Lets all take confidence out of the game and take it on to next saturday for Chipstead B at home. I think we need to show them what we're about and prove to the league that we're here to win matches!