AFC Waverton Wasps 4 v 5 Chester Nomads

Chester & District League (14 November 2010)

Waverton Scorers (season's total in brackets)

Aaron Hassall  -  2 (4)

Matt Sheen  -  1 (17)

Sam Jones  -  1 (12)

Report

Having dominated the early play, and taken a comfortable lead as a result, Waverton somehow managed to lose a game they should have wrapped up comfortably. This was a reminder, if needed, that a second league title is not a formality and will hopefully spur the team on to push forward again for the remainder of the season.

The game was barely a minute old when Sam Jones headed in a great Alex Wilkinson cross to give Waverton the lead. At this point the team were playing some lovely passing football (carrying on from last week) and it was no surprise when they doubled their lead as Aaron Hassall fired home a Cameron Faulkener through ball. After fifteen minutes they added a third, Aaron again from close range, and five minutes later took a well deserved four goal lead after a good Matt Sheen finish.

At this point it looked inevitable that Waverton would continue in this vein and win the game comfortably. Whether that caused the players to be complacent, or whether some substitutions unbalanced the team is unclear, but it was at this point that the game changed dramatically. After an unlucky own goal made it 4-1, a poor clearance allowed Nomads a second, and suddenly the visitors heads were up and a game that had looked over became a close contest. When they added a third, with a fantastic strike just before half time, suddenly Waverton were heading in to the break with just a 4-3 lead.

The team came out for the second period looking brighter, and at least started to put together some better passing football again. Somehow though the shock of the Nomads comeback seemed to have had a lasting effect, and through both some bad luck and some outstanding work by the Nomads goalkeeper Waverton simply couldn't get the fifth goal that a lot of their approach play deserved. Meanwhile, at the other end, the Nomads team could clearly sense an upset and with the blistering pace of their two forwards they always presented a danger. Mid way through the half they scored again to make if 4-4.

Both sides continued to push for a winner, and with Waverton committing so many players to attack (to maintain their winning run) the perhaps inevitable happened as they left themselves exposed to a seven man breakaway by Nomads, which gave them a very unlikely 5-4 lead. The Wasps didn't give up and pushed hard for an equaliser in the final five minutes, but a combination of woodwork, bad luck and further goalkeeping heroics just underlined it was going to be "one of those days" (see Malpas last season!).

Disappointing as the result is, Waverton need to pick themselves up, regard this as a wake up call, and then push on again for the remainder of the season. It's still a campaign where, if they play to their best, a treble is still perfectly achievable.