Report - 2nd February 2008
Keymer & Hassocks vs Fletching
Div 3
K & H surrendered their unbeaten home record to Fletching going down 3-1 in what was probably their worst performance in the Club's history.Ironically it was Fletching who last beat them on 19/11/2005 and in fact K & H have now lost every meeting between the two clubs.
K & H started brightly and went ahead after ten minutes when Troy Raftery chased a ball that seemed to be going out but managed to get a cross in which Toby Raftery converted with a glancing header-his 100th for the Club.The Fletching keeper felt the ball had gone out of play but the Referee allowed it to stand after consulting their linesman.
K & H then forced a couple of corners and Ben Watson headed just over but that effectively marked the end of their participation in the game as Fletching looked a class above for the rest of the contest reducing the home side to a disorganised rabble as they coasted to victory with 3 very well taken goals-indeed so superior were they it seems difficult to comprehend how they have lost 9 league games this season to K & H's 3.
To compound a miserable day out K & H had 2 players booked-one for commenting on an awful decision by the Ref and another for reacting to an aggressive move by one of the visitors where common sense would have required a word as the contest was played in a very good spirit overall.
In conclusion K & H have to reflect on how they can turn things around as no one got any enjoyment from the game and frankly would rather have been doing something else.
They knew they would be weakened by the absence of 5 key players which meant a completely different midfield from usual in that Troy Raftery had to play his first game there for 5 years (fracturing his usual partnership with Ben Watson at centreback) and Andy Waterman came in for his first game of football in 2 years.Add to that Dave Edwards playing out of position in centre midfield and it goes some way towards explaining what went wrong but still cannot completely mask the poor level of performance overall.
