A late comeback earns Sils another point

After their first defeat last week, Sils were left with more problems with all 4 of their regular defenders unavailable due to injury or other commitments. Some last minute changes and repositioning of the available players resulted in the return of the experienced Shaun Bates alongside Andrew Jackman in central defence. Nick Oppenheimer returned to left back with Adam Kent dropping back to right back. Brin Jones lined up behind the back four. In midfield Joe O'Malley started at the bottom of the diamond, Luke Kent and Joe Houlcroft left and right, and captain Mo Hadian just behind the front two. The team were boosted by their latest international signing: Kartik Kumar who made his club debut in attack having arrived less than 48 hours earlier in the country, alongside summer signing Tom Merriman. There was plenty of experience on the bench with the likes of Mark Dovey and Gary Perkins coming on to boost the side.

An energetic start to the match by the Sils immediately put Telford on the backfoot, with Kartik and Tom doing great work to close down defenders and put them under pressure. Kartik immediately made his presence felt when he won a ball off the Telford defenders, drove into the D and got a shot away, but just wide. Supported well on the right side by Adam Kent, Tom Merriman was able to carve out a good chance. He dribbled his way into the D and pulled back a dangerous ball which was just behind Mo Hadian. Against the run of the play however, it was Telford who took the lead. Having won themselves a short corner, they fired a shot at goal. The ball seem to be going just wide of the post but thanks to a wicked deflection off Oppenheimer it landed at the back of Sils' goal. 1-0 to the home side. The youngers Luke Kent and Joe Houlcroft pressed on to get Sils back into the game but at times their attacking runs were stopped by the defenders who outnumbered them. Back at the other end Telford got another short corner, and this time the found the near post unmarked and were able to pick their spot easily for 2-0. Frustrating stuff for the Sils who probably had more of the possession but were not carving out any clear cut chances. 25 minutes in, Sils were able to win their first shortner. Mo Hadian's strike was cleared off the near post by the Telford defence. Further pressure lead to another short corner which this time Mark Dovey was able to strike sweetly and hard, nut-megging the keeper and bringing it back to 2-1. It was Telford however, who finised the half strongly and got a further crucial goal at a vital time just before half time, another well worked short corner to go 3-1 up.

The plan at half time was clear, to start passing the ball better and quicker. It seemed that players were taking 3 or 4 touches before thinking about a pass and this simply had to change if Sils were going to find a way back in to the game. With second half under way, Telford came out strong and applied the pressure. Sils were alert and keeper Brin Jones was back to his best showing the form that saw him only concede 1 goal in the first 3 games. Some crucial saves kept Sils in this game. Throughout the game there attitude of one of the Telford forwards was appalling with constant use of foul language towards the Sils players. The home umpires turned a blind eye to this for much of the game and things nearly boiled with some of the Sils players getting frustrated. Captain Mo Hadian had to substitute certain players off for a 'cooling period', and it seemed to do the trick as it made them more hungry to want to win and refocus their frustration into playing well. The player was eventually carded late on and momentum shifted with Sils starting to attack more. By now playing 3 up front to try and salvage something from the game, Adam Kent made a delightful run on the right drilling a cross at the near post, Mo Hadian connected sweetly on the run but the ball just flew wide of the top far corner of the goal. From a neatly worked short corner, a lovely interchange between Joe Houlcroft and Nick Oppenheimer created a chance far post for Luke Kent, who put his shot inches wide of the goal. With the umpires stopping the game briefly to have a chat with the players about some of the attitude and dissent, Sils were able to huddle on the half way line for a mid half chat. The experienced Shaun Bates was able to pull the team together at this point and motivate them to get back in to the game and score the next goal which would give them a good chance of then getting something out of the game by creating that one more chance. And the talk paid off immediately. With the move that started with Mark Dovey as usual, a series of simple passes and exchanges lead to a final one-two between Kartik Kumar and Joe O'Malley inside the D. Joe unselfishly played the final pass into the path of Kartik who scored his debut goal calmy under pressure bringing it back to 3-2. Despite a 2 minute sin bin for another dissent at umpire Joe O'Malley came back on the pitch to continue the Sils' attacking edge. By now all the pressure and possession was in Telford's half. Adam Kent came close when he took a reverse stick lob to leave the keeper helpless, his effort somehow went wide despite looking to be in all the way. Kartik was next to try his luck with a reverse stick shot but this time despite the power, the ball was sky high and out of the pitch. Sils won themselves another short corner with 5 minutes remaining. More inspiration came from the defence asking them to 'make this one count'. Opting for the direct hit, Mo Hadian managed to get another shot on target and it was Sils turn to finally get some good luck as the keeper could not kick the ball clear and sliced the ball back into his own goal. It wasn't the prettiest short corner but it was enough to get Sils' back to 3-3. Now with Telford down to 10 men and on the ropes Sils had the upper hand and pressed on for what could have been a sensational comeback. There was time to create one final chance as Luke Kent calved himself a half chance and decided to shoot with his reverse stick. Once again the effort was agonisingly wide and it wasn't to be. The game ended 3-3, which although the Sils would have been happy to take at half time, felt like a missed opportunity to take all 3 points and really punish Telford hard. A positive ending nonetheless to take to their next game.