Strudley saves the day

The vagaries of the English weather made it difficult for both sides and unpleasant for the spectators in this Boxing Day fixture. A heavy frost overnight with temperatures well below zero was followed by less cold weather as dawn came, and by mid-morning all signs of the frost had disappeared and the ground soon had plenty of “give”, but by lunch-time it started to rain, getting heavier and heavier as the afternoon went on, so that conditions were horrendous, especially in the second half, when the pitch cut up badly.
Considering the conditions, it was an entertaining game, and although we were in command territorially for most of the game, in the end we were indebted to two great saves from Paul Strudley (pictured), first from a free-kick, and then a penalty, even though we hit the woodwork several times and attacked almost continuously throughout.
Our first chance came after a great run by Diak John, who overlapped down the wing, outpacing all his markers, but the corner which resulted was easily cleared.
Another attack by Lee Smith looked dangerous, but Charlie Mpi appeared to be pulled back by a defender as he tried to turn the ball over the line from close in.
Mpi then brought a good save from Alex Lynch, but we wasted a dangerous free-kick after Smith had been fouled, but the pressure had to tell and another attack down the wing by John ended with Mpi scoring from close range after 37 minutes.
Although we were playing up the slope after the interval, the rain poured down and made conditions very difficult, but we continued to do virtually all the attacking, twice hitting the post and bringing a goal-line clearance from Josh Webb, as well as a string of corners. With all the play around the Burnham penalty area, the visitors had plenty of room when they did break out and Strudley pulled of a good save from a dangerous free-kick. Amazingly, with all our pressure there was still only that single goal separating the two sides, and Burnham had a great chance to snatch a point 10 minutes from the end when they were awarded a penalty for a tackle by Matt Day, but Strudley dived low to his left to save Webb’s penalty and ensure all three points. Remarkably it had been a close-run thing and all credit is due to Burnham’s battling performance which wads so close to earning a point.
Team;Strudley, Horgan, John, Rusby, Day,Pilling(Stow), Clark,Collins, Mpi(O’Brien,)Draycott, Smith. Subs;Goodger, Munday, Osei-Tutu.