The View from The Nest: Buckhurst Hill (H)
Credit: Grace Chestney Photography, Buckhurst Hill (H)
Match report written by a fan:
Another great performance from Heath saw their fine run of form continue as they progressed into the 3rd round of the FA Vase, the only side in Suffolk to reach the last 64!
There’s a real belief amongst the squad these days enabling them as at Walsham the other night to once again come from behind against a competitive Hill side skippered by Olympian Tom Daley! His sublime Reverse 41⁄2 Somersault with Twists inside our penalty box early on in the festivities was something to behold and he was soon emulated by the right back who twice went down as if he’d been shot by a sniper earning him a Bafta nomination.
The dark arts however did little to dampen Heath’s enthusiasm and as has been the case in the majority of games this season, we had a good percentage of the ball and created many chances but failed to put them away and this reminds me of the time I taped a Piranha to my boomerang, I thought ‘This will come back to bite me’.
At half-time, the main topic of conversation between the Lakenheath faithful concerned the subject of which is better, plain or crinkly chips.
The second 45 was high entertainment from the start with Heath hunting in packs, desparate to get on level terms. A succession of corners came and went without success but we began to play some nice stuff on the floor and eventually a lovely move down the right flank culminated in a whipped cross which was met by hard working skipper Sam Hawley who flung himself to head the ball powerfully passed the despairing keeper! Sam put in a real shift much like my Dad who worked 12 hours a day to put food on the table....a great Dad but a really slow cook!
It’s very noticeable that Heath far too often waste opportunities from the many chances that come their way from set pieces, something they need to work on with our good delivery and the aerial ability we have in the side but today, we got a lot of joy from wide areas.
Our second came courtesy of the penalty spot, another floated cross was handled by a defender and deemed an unnatural position by the referee. I have some sympathy with his view, it looked like the centre half was playing Twister!
Youngy who had only been on the pitch a few minutes having just returned from injury stepped forward to drill the ball home with supreme confidence. Luke told me that he hadn’t wasted his time whilst being sidelined, spending the last few weekends renovating his home, he rang the local building firm and said ‘I wanna skip outside my house’ the manager said ‘you can do what you want, it’s your house’
Now as we all know, Lakenheath lately don’t seem to have the match management skills to close out games so it came of great relief to see Tommy notch our third to give a little breathing space.
Has anyone else noticed that Tommy only seems to score worldies, with back to goal, he twisted and turned, zigzagged and shimmied before unleashing a thunderbolt into the top corner. The way he weaved his way through the defence reminded me of the time I was working in a French vineyard which was invaded by escaping cattle, I had to carefully maneuver the cow out of the vineyard...yes I herd it through the grapevine!
As it turned out, we needed the third as Hill scored another to set up an anxious few minutes but we got there in the end and march on into the next round.