Match Report: Fleet Town 3 Sandhurst Town 1

An early Dean Rule double helped set up this revenge victory on Tuesday night, for Fleet Town over the first side that beat them in the league, earlier in the season.

The first chance of the game fell to the visitors when Frazier Osunkoya shot from the edge of the box, forcing Finlay Purcell, in the Fleet goal, to turn the ball round the post for a corner, which Fleet were able to clear without any problem. Fleet took the ball up the field, when they got near the box Danilo Cadete in the centre played the ball out to Nick Medcraft on the right, he crossed the ball to Dean Rule who was waiting beyond the far post, but Dean pushed his shot wide of the post. A quick break down field from Sandhurst saw Remy Coddington get into a great position, shooting the ball from a central position, he only fired his effort wide of the target. After Eight minutes Nick Medcraft and Danilo Cadete again combined on the right, this time the cross found Dean Rule waiting inside the far post to receive the ball and made no mistake in guiding the ball into the net to give Fleet Town the lead. Only four minutes later Fleet double their advantage, when Chike Kandi danced through the Sandhurst defence and played the ball to Nick Medcraft, who crossed into a packed area of the box, after a little bit of a scramble Dean Rule struck the ball home for his second goal of the match.

At this stage of the game Sandhurst were getting as much of the ball as Fleet, but wasted their best openings, a break by Sandhurst saw Charlie Bath shoot from 20 yards out, but skewed his shot a good 30 yards wide of the goal. Another quick break from Sandhurst and this time it was Eddie Cooper who could only fire his shot wide of the goal. Another Sandhurst attack was set up by a long pass forward by Morgan Elliott to George Brough, his cross was turned behind for a corner to Sandhurst, when this was played in it was cleared but collected by Sandhurst and hit straight back into the danger area and touched into the goal by Conor Allison to make the score 2-1 after thirty-six minutes. Fleet were soon threatening again themselves, Dean Rule shot from the left side of the box and Hugo Scott in the Sandhurst goal had to push the ball round the post for a corner. The next attack saw Danilo Cadete run and cross from the right, picking out Tane Caubo, but his header went wide. Right on the stroke of half time Dean Rule played the ball out to Tom Smith, in his first game back from injury lay off, on the left, Tom whipped in a superb ball to Danilo Cadete who turned the ball into the net for Fleet’s third goal. The referee’s whistle for the interval blew as soon as Sandhurst touched the ball for the restart and the teams went back to the changing rooms with Fleet Town 3-1 ahead.

For the second half, Fleet Town brought on Fareed Hakeem-Habeeb for Tom Smith. As only to be expected after goals in the first half, Sandhurst were playing tighter at the back in the second, while desperately looking for a way back into the game up front. Sandhurst won an early corner, taken from the left the ball was overhit but recovered by Eddie Cooper on the right, he lifted the ball in towards the goal, forcing Finlay Purcell to make a fantastic save, palming the ball away from under the bar for another corner, in making the save Finlay had collided with the post as he came down and needed a period of treatment before the game could resume. Eddie Cooper had another chance shortly after, after doing the hard work of eluding Fareed Hakeem-Habeeb in the box, his shot was so poor it went out for a throw-in. Fleet kept trying to find another goal themselves to make the game safe, Danilo Cadete and Fareed Hakeem-Habeeb combined on the left and got the ball over to Matt Surmon, he shot from just outside the box, but struck the leg of a defender which took all the pace out of the ball and provided an easy catch for the visiting keeper. Taking a more direct approach Chike Kandi collected the ball in midfield and danced his way round three defenders, he got a good shot away, but Sandhurst managed to turn it behind for another corner. Fleet’s second change came after Seventy-One minutes bringing on Dan Bone and almost immediately he had a chance, shooting from distance his effort was save by Hugo Scott. After this clear chances were few and far between, very late on Sandhurst sub Brighton Morrison tried his luck from twenty yards but the ball was easily caught by Finlay Purcell and Fleet were able to see the game out to complete a 3-1 victory.

Fleet Town stay in fifth place with these three points, only two of the sides above them played on Tuesday night Cobham and AFC Whyteleafe both won against the sixth and seventh placed sides Corinthian Casuals and Knaphill, so this has opened up an eight point gap between Fleet Town and the chasing pack. Thoughts now turn to Saturday and the FA Vase trip to Tring Athletic, but if some latest weather forecasts of strong winds and heavy rain prove correct then it may not be a day for the fast flowing football that Fleet Town like to play.