Match Report: 1st Team 1-0 Espirt (Sat 19th Sep)
Forest United won their opening match of the 2009/10 season on Saturday in the first round of the East Ham Memorial Cup.
After an eventful pre-season (Winning the Time Out Bar Summer pre-season tournament again for the second year in a row!!!) & with the decision being taken to disband the Forest United reserve team & revert to one team, the sole Forest Utd team assemblied early for the opening match of the new season. Espirt due to player shortages were only able to field a team of ten players.
The first half of this cup tie saw Forest dominate early on & create chance after chance. Yet a outstanding & stubborn performance by the Espirt goal keeper, who was with out doubt the man of the match, prevented Forest, time & time again from running up a healthly score. The woodwork also conspired to prevent Forest from scoring on the rare occasion they did beat the Esprit goal keeper. The only goal of the game came later in the first half & invovled a wonderful flowing move from defence, up the field to the other end of the pitch. Good work down the right from Tony Mullen & Ryan Rebeiro enabled the ball to be played into the path of Aiden Thomas who was lurking with intent just outside the Esprit 18 yard box. His quick turn & burst into the box beat the Espirt offside trap & his shot high into the top corner of the goal left the Esprit goal keeper with no chance. The first half ended with Forest Utd 1-0 in front.
The second half was much like the first. Esprit attempted to contain a Forest Utd side surging forward at every available moment. Chance after chance was wasted, saved or denied by some great defending or poor finishing. Late towards the end of the match Esprit briefly threaten to score from a couple of set-pieces, but despite the late scare, Forest Utd secured their first win of the new season & progress into the next round of the East Ham Memorial Cup.
No league or cup matches in place for Saturday 26th September, although Forest Utd will be playing Redbridge Elite in a friendly match over at Wanstead Flats, Capel Rd, on Saturday.