Match Report: 1st Team 3-5 East London Elite (Sat 10th Oct)
Forest United lost 5-3 to East London Elite, away on Saturday.
This was Forest United's second league match of the season & saw them taking on a club who had only joined the Ilford & District Football League for the first time this season.
After last Saturday's disappointing draw to FC Barolle, Forest were eager to improve on that last display. Through most of the first half of this match, Forest created chances as always & played some good football. Glaring defensive errors however would seek to undermine all that was good from the away team in this match. A collision between the two Forest Central defenders gifted East London Elite with their first goal. Elite soon increased their lead after another error at the back from Forest allowed one of the Elite players to score. Two goals down, Aiden Thomas than scored at the other end & Forest were 2-1 down at half-time. While it was highlighted at half-time that the left hand side of the Forest team was not doing enough to contain the threat from Elite's righ hand flank, the decision to remove only the left hand side midfielder did raise a few eyebrows.
In the opening twenty minutes of the second half, Forest battled back well to take a 3-2 lead. Goals from sub Ryan Thompson-Cobham & Samuel Smith puting the away team back in pole position. Unfortunately the same defensive errors that had surfaced in the first half returned to haunt Forest in the second half. Elite scored direct from a corner kick & soon added to that with a goal score after a freekick was conceded in a dangerous area by Forest. The home team's fifth goal came about after Forest failed to deal with an Elite counter attack. The match ended with Forest United losing 5-3.
So big questions need asnwering after this result. With some players appearing off the pace & out of sorts, while others looked unable to cope with the demands of Premier Division football, can the remaining Forest United team, including players from both former squads of last season, gel quickly enough & strike up an good enough understanding to ensure that the team can a achieve a respectable league position come the end of the season? Will the time wasters & those who are not serious about playing for the club be found out & jettison before it is too late? Only time will tell.