Match Report – Fleet Town Bring Back The Points From Balham

Fleet Town were forced to work had and dig deep to overcome a stubborn Balham side to bring home the three points with a narrow 1-0 victory.

Balham had their plan for the match to try and reverse their fortunes, having suffered four successive defeats in the league. Fleet Town had been forced into one change for this match, with Tom Smith not fully fit after coming off with an injury against Knaphill on Tuesday. Despite all their running and endeavour Fleet were being denied and frustrated by the Balham defence, leading to clear chances being few and far between, the game reached half time goalless.

The second half saw Fleet Town start to look more dangerous and cheered on by a healthy travelling support, they believed that they would find a way to break Balham down, at some point. After an hour Fleet Town were the first to make a change, replacing Danilo Cadete, who had run himself into the ground on the wings with Dan Bone, in the centre to change the emphasis of the attack. The decisive moment came after Seventy Nine minutes when Chike Kandi broke through down the middle, he side-stepped a defender to face Balham keeper John Ross, who braced himself to stand large, in doing so he left a space between his legs which Chike Kandi steered the ball through and into the net to put Fleet Town ahead, which turned out to be the only goal of the afternoon. This won’t be one of the more memorable games this season but the three points more vital on a day that saw Tadley Calleva and Knaphill both lose, all be it to other sides in the top group, the win lifting Fleet Town up to sixth place, with a chance, depending on how other sides do midweek, of climbing into the play off zone if they can win at Sandhurst on Tuesday.