Back from a nice long Christmas holiday and full of turkey, christmas pudding and all the trimmings, it was an ever-so slightly sluggish, but nevertheless determined team that turned up for their away match against Chiswick.

Chiswick won pushback. Sonning started strong, going straight in for the tackles, and the first 5 minutes saw few major plays from either side. Then Chiswick picked up the pace, and using their strong centre half and speedy left half, managed to drive into the Sonning D and get a cracking net shot past keeper Peter Argyll. Chiswick continued to harrass the Sonning back four, gaining several short corners. These weren’t enough to stop Pete pulling off some impressive saves and firm kick-outs. They’d have to do better than that...
Chiswick’s aggression seemed to be an incentive for Sonning to wake-up, as we started passing the ball around faster, picking up the hard hits of Jeremy Matheson and Kevin Mist to push forward and harry the Chiswick defence. Striker Strudley received an excellent pass from centre forward Si Betson, and going in for a one-on-one, was narrowly thwarted by the keeper’s quick thinking run out.

The tables turned again. With the Chiswick defence holding strong against our forwards and midfield, their left half went on a run down his wing, crossing the ball into Sonning’s D. Defenders Steffan Johns and Mark Handsford denied the Chiswick strikers twice before an unfortunate third cross –in was slammed into the Sonning backboard. With 4 minutes to go in the first half, Chiswick went on the offensive again. This time they drove through midfield like a knife through butter, as time and time again we dived in without looking where their own midfielders were heading. An unusual lift into the D left the Sonning defence in disarray (arguably a dangerous ball) but the whistle wasn’t blown and Chiswick took the chance to slip it past the keeper once more.

Half-time score: Sonning -0    3- Chiswick 

“Enough of the rubbish, we need to pass the ball around more, make more options and use the left half. We’re just passing it into nowhere and when we do get the ball, we’re getting bogged down by not passing quick enough.” Skipper Strudley aptly summed Sonning’s first half performance.

It seems we took on board Grant’s advice, as the second half saw multiple opportunities created through Steve Ford’s powerful passes and Matt Poulton’s skilful pick-ups, keeping the Chiswick keeper on his toes. Sam Molina and Mark Handsford had a semi-successful double team up the right half, but were denied by Chiswick’s solid right half. But we didn’t seem to be doing enough. Sam Molina, desperately trying to make up for his first-half debacle in running of the sideline, got himself in the right position for a pass from defender John Warby, then promptly missed it, and fell over.

Mistakes aside, Sonning were now in no mood for casual play. The break came with Will King cruising his way past the Chiswick defence to slip a cool backboarder past their keeper. Still trailing by 2 goals, Sonning picked up the pace again, with Mr King again proving his worth as a striker with a brilliant reverse stick swip into the bottom corner leaving us just one goal behind Chiswick.

A few more desperate attempts at goal on behalf of Sonning were checked by Chiswick’s well-organised defence, but this didn’t stop a well aimed aerial from landing inside the D and being promptly tucked away by (striker??). A dodgy decision disallowed Sonning’s chance to equalise, and with the full time whistle approaching we knew what was coming. Bad luck boys.

Final Score:

Sonning-- 2      3-- Chiswick