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Old Loughtonians
Sunday 7th February saw the return of the outdoor National League season. Having had a 2 month break for Christmas and a successful indoor campaign, Sevenoaks Men's 1st team returned to action against second in the league, Old Loughtonians. The spirit in the camp was high having managed to pick up former Pakistan international captain, Mohammed Nadeem, for the remainder of the season.Sevenoaks started the game brightly and were the better side for much of the first half. Whilst controlling the play well, and defending solidly when necessary, Sevenoaks did not really create many clear cut chances. The first opportunity came when Sevenoaks were awarded a penalty corner midway through the first half, but Nadeem's drag-flick was smartly saved by the Loughtonian's keeper. With three minutes to half time an ambitious through ball was intercepted by Tim Warrington, who picked out Nadeem just inside the opposition's half, the new signing then fed a glorious ball through to Ben Allberry on the top of the D and he unselfishly passed wide of the keeper for player coach Pete Turner to slide in and deflect into the empty net. Sevenoaks went into half-time with a well-deserved 1-0 lead.
Unsurprisingly the Essex side came out flying after the interval, pressurising Sevenoaks all over the park. Eventually the pressure led to Sevenoak being reduced to 10 men for 5 minutes, when Chris Barker was sin-binned for a mis-timed tackle. In spite of the numerical disadvantage Sevenoaks actually had the better of this period with Sam Ornbo and Nadeem seeing attempts flash just wide of the Lought's post. The turning point of the game came when Sevenoaks had a seemingly good goal ruled out by the officials. Nick Barker showed some mesmorising skill down the right hand side and picked out Nadeem on the penalty spot and he calmly dispatched the ball into the top corner. Unfortunately the Pakistani's first league goal was ruled out and this seemed to give Old Loughtonians big confidence boost.
In the 47th minute, Lought's levelled the scores when their forward scored from a tight angle. This shook the Oaks and within a minute they found themselves 2-1 down, when the same player found the bottom corner when one on one with goalkeeper James Marshall. With 15 minutes to go an arial pass released the Loughts forward and the attack resulted in a penalty corner which was unluckily deflected into the roof of the net off a Sevenoaks stick.
The remainder of the game was an end-to-end affair with Oaks pushing to get back into the game and Loughts looking to finish the game off. Chances came and went for both sides, but both keepers ensured that there would be no more goals, and the final score finished 3-1 to Old Loughts. Sevenoaks now face 3rd in the table Southgate at Hollybush Lane next Sunday and really need to get a victory to move clear of any relegation worries. Any support would be welcomed to cheer on the team.
