Flat Fours lose "Friendly" by Four

A frustrating game for the Sils, who at times showed glimpses of the form that brought them two wins and a draw in their last four league games.

Having fallen behind ten minutes into the first half, Sils equalised quickly following a brilliant piece of counter-attacking play. Breaking from a defensive long corner, the ball was played to Munemo whose mazy forty yard run finished with a crisp pass to Andy Rush. Willetts played an important role in the goal, and proved that he can still be a bit of an artist when he drew two Hampton defenders away from Rush as he entered the D, allowing M4's super-striker to find enough space to squeeze the ball past the Hampton keeper.

In truth, Sils looked out of sorts for much of the first half, at times sitting far too deep, and lacking the discipline and shape that was so prominent in December. So it was perhaps no surprise that Hampton re-took the lead, and doubled it before the interval, leaving Sils with much to reflect on at half-time.

M4's second half performance was more encouraging, but not enough to force them back into the match against a strong Hampton side. Shape and workrate was better than the first half, and as Sils pressed forwards they won several short corners, but other than a strike from Higgins that went just wide of the post, and a couple of chances from Rush, the Hampton keeper wasn't really tested.

As the game entered its final phase, Sils found themselves increasingly on the back foot. A mixture of some good defensive play but poor distribution meant that Hampton had more possession, created more chances and added two more goals to their tally. Sils played out the final minutes of the game with ten men, after Harrison was unfortunate to receive a yellow card.

3 points to think about before next week's home game against Worcester :

1/ sometimes you have to accept that you have a bad day at the office
2/ it's ok to make mistakes in a friendly, but only if you learn from them and don't repeat them
3/ value possession at all times