Walton & Hersham 4 Marine 2

Pitching In Southern League Premier South | Saturday 12th August 2023

Posted by Keith Yeomans on August 13th 2023

`Match Report from Pete Crockett`

A CLASSIC GAME OF TWO HALVES

This was the classic game of two halves. The first was shaded by Marine who, but for some excellent saves from Liam Allen in the hosts goal, could have gone in at half time two or more goals to the good. However, in the second the hosts were by far the more dominant and threatening team.

Marine opened the scoring when some good interplay between Jamie Edge and Henry Spalding saw the latter hit a twenty-yard belter on six minutes.

The game then ebbed and flowed and approaching the half hour mark Marine conceded a penalty when Charlie Searle was adjudged to have fouled striker Trae Cook-Appiay. Harry Mills calmly converted the spot kick to put the home team on level terms.

Levi Irving will understandably feel unfortunate not to have scored a first half brace. A diving header and an excellent shot from the edge of the box forced top quality saves from home keeper Liam Allen. However, on the cusp of half time Marine took the lead.

A mix up between defender and keeper, following some excellent pressing by Ed Williams, saw the ball fall to the feet of the Marine man some 25 metres from goal. His delectable chip put Marine 2-1 up at the break.

In the second half the hosts seemed to bypass central midfield with greater frequency. They instead increased their usage of long diagonal balls to stretch Marine. In the 73rd minute they equalised with a back post looping header from Stefan Ilic that was assisted by the wind and somehow went over keeper Searle and into the net from the by-line.

They Walton took the lead when following a swift counter-attack Trae Cook-Appiah converted from close range on 86 minutes. With Marine pushing forward in search of an equaliser John Gilbert then slotted home in injury time to make the final score a 4-2 victory for Walton & Hersham.

There were a number of positives in the Marine performance. In the first half the team produced some delightfully fluent passing football with Jamie Edge and George Dowling bossing central midfield.

The team also created numerous chances and forced several quality saves from the host’s custodian of the goal. Levi Irving put in a very good shift up front and Ed Williams made an eye-catching league debut that bodes well for the future.

The less positive aspects of the performance were that in the second half Marine struggled to find the zest, verve, and quality of the first. This was in part because the hosts looked to play a more expansive game and bypass central midfield.

The harsh reality is that if you score two goals away from home you probably ought to accrue some points return from the match. However, players, management, and supporters are all very much aware that Marine have got to address recent defensive frailties to ensure this happens.

In closing, Marine will play worse than they did today and pick up points. This was a much-improved effort and but for the first half excellence of the host’s keeper the result could have been very different.

This is a time to keep calm, work hard, address flaws, and build upon the positives. It is most certainly not a time to lapse into over-the-top criticism.

Come on Marine!

Editors Marine Star Man: Levi Irving
Editors Swans Star Man: Trae Cook-Appiah

Attendance: 488

`Line Ups`

Walton & Hersham
Manager: Scott Harris
Colours: All Red
Line-up: 1. Liam Allen 2. Harry Mills 17. Joe Pratley-Jones 4. Arsen Ujkaj 5. Mitchell Gough 6. Jack Hicks (c) 7. Stan Falherty (16. Shkytyler Borrows 90’) 8. Jake Frailing (15. Jacob Munting 46’) 9. Trae Cook-Appiah 10. John Gilbert 11. Jordan Adeyemi (12. Stefan Ilic 73’)
Goalscorer: Harry Mills 25’pen, Stefan Ilic 74’, Trae Cook-Appiah 86’, John Gilbert 90+4’
Subs Not Used: 3. Sam Tutt, 14. Alan Oliver
Cards:
Mitchell Gough 43’, Stan Flaherty’ Yellow Card
None Red Card
None Yellow & Red Card