Match Report – Sandhurst Town Bring Fleet Town’s Unbeaten League Record To An End

A disappointing Tuesday night at Bottom Meadow saw Fleet Town’s unbeaten start to their league campaign come to an abrupt end with a 4-2 loss to Sandhurst Town. The 12 game run equals their best in recent years, matching their performances in the 2008-09 season and in 2006, but still some way short of a 20 game run in 2001-02 season

The game opened with a quiet, but competitive first quarter of an hour as both sides probed for an early opening goal. Sandhurst, who had an inconsistent start to the season, a mix of good wins and unexpected defeats, came close to going ahead after 23 minutes but Harvey Seeman was unable to convert this chance. However the same player found the target ten minutes later to give the home side the lead and the game remained at 1-0 to half time.

With his plan A for the match not producing the desired outcome on the pitch, manager Darryl Evans made a triple change for the second half. A fired up Fleet Town took less than a minute to get the game back to level when Dean Rule ran down the left and cut in to squeeze his shot past the home keeper Hugh Scott, into the net. Twelve minutes later Sandhurst were back in front when Maurice Black scored to make it 2-1.

Fleet levelled the score again after 62 minutes when second half sub Kai Tanner collected the ball on the edge of the box and fired his shot into the bottom corner of the net. However, Fleet fell behind again only two minutes later, a long ball from Ruben Mayani was played to Maurice Black, he took the ball on the half volley and his strike flew into the top corner of the net. As Fleet chased for another equaliser, a late break by Sandhurst ended with the referee awarding them a Penalty, this was put away by Mason Slade to complete the 4-2 victory.

Fleet Town now have to put this behind them and regroup quickly for the FA Vase trip to Kent on Saturday.