The Spencer 3’s took a bit of a beating against an Epsom side who were low on numbers but high on class and experience.

The early exchanges suggested a different outcome, thanks to Epsom’s 10th player arriving late and two early Spencer goals courtesy of Spencer’s own offensive experience in the form of Nick Flew and Andrew Mottershead.

Once Epsom had the minimum 10 players, the tide started to turn as they out-passed and out-thought the mostly youthful Spencer 3’s.

The home side’s cause was hindered by regular goalie, Colin Byrne, being unavailable. There was no rush to be a stand-in goalie so Rob Gooch donned the chest pad and gave it a go. Mistake number one was not wearing Colin’s specific goalie gloves. One super save early in the 2nd quarter resulted in a very bruised and sore thumb, and a change to Colin’s gloves at half-time. Mistake number two, three, four, five etc. followed each time Epsom passed their way through the Spencer defence to find an open player 3 yards from goal. Colin would not of changed the game outcome, but would of kept the Epsom tally down to at most a baker’s dozen.

Despite the scoreline, possession was fairly even. The faster leg speed of the Spencer midfield ensured the ball got up into attack enough. The problem was breaking down the experienced Epsom defence.

Positives from the game were that Gavin and Harley won the majority of restarts; Ben and Raph shared LSM duties and were super in transition play; everyone kept basic handling errors down to a minimum; and our inexperienced (at a senior level) defence can only learn from playing against opposition who all have previously played at the top level in the Southern League.

Spencer 3’s were;
Rob Gooch, Toby Rule, Jobey Keane, Ben McLellan, Raphael Jackson, Jamie Weir, Gavin Park, Harley Cole, Sam Horowitz, Jon Dodd, Andrew Mottershead (2 goals), Nick Flew (2) and Dan Hilton (1)