AFC BINLEY'S EDWIN GREAVES COMMENTS ON HIS TEAM'S HARD FOUGHT WIN v COVENTRY PLUMBING...

"Coventry Plumbing got the game underway and played with the confidence of a side that had only been beaten once in the league.

They forced us to defend well but at this stage they did not trouble Ryan Oldham in goal.

Our first offensive threat came from an 11th minute Travis Smallwood corner which saw a Fabian Spence header cleared off the goal-line.

In the 12th minute Cov Plumbing had a great chance to score when a throw into the box beat everyone and somehow with the goal empty, a Plumbing player hit the crossbar and the ball bounced clear.

After that let-off we started to play a bit better and became more of an attacking threat as we started to take control of the midfield area.

In the 17th minute we were awarded a free-kick which Travis Smallwood took, the delivery caused indecision in the Plumbing defence and a deflection gave Dave Allen no chance: 0-1.


In the 30th minute Plumbing were denied again when a long range shot was saved by Ryan Oldham.

We doubled our lead in the 42nd minute when another Travis Smallwood free-kick found Steven Young, who bundled the ball over the line: 0-2."


Half-time: 0-2.

"The  second-half saw Plumbing improve on their first half showing and they put us under a lot more pressure, forcing Ryan Oldham into more action.

While we defended well, in a 20 minute spell Plumbing forced four clear-cut chances, denied only by a mixture of good saves from Ryan Oldham or poor finishing.

As Plumbing attacked in numbers and spaces started to appear we were able to catch them on the break but Dave Allen was very quick to deny us any clear-cut opportunities.

The half finished as it started with Plumbing attacking and us defending well."

Full-time: 
Coventry Plumbing 0-2 AFC Binley.

In summing up this game:


"This was always going to be a tough afternoon for us against a side who had previously beaten us 3-1 earlier in the season and who before today had only lost one previous league game.


We scored from 2 set-pieces and didn't work Dave Allen too much over 90 minutes; however we got our noses in front and defended for our lives.


Plumbing will probably be wondering how they didn't get something out of this game and on another day they would have.


However the defence to a man put in their best performance of the season so far and when they were beaten, Ryan Oldham was there to back them up.


At times it wasn't pretty to watch but the lads dug deep and got the job done.


We have now played 12 league games, so we are now half-way through our season, with 8 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats and we find ourselves 2nd in the league and in a good position to push on.

Another plus point on the day was that the Reserve Team won 6-2 away to KD Sporting.

Up next for us is a home game against Hawkesmill Sports Reserves."

Edwin Greaves 

AFC Binley