West suffered their first defeat of the season against Croxley Guild, but they should have done much better.

The boys started well, and played some good football. A great early move followed an Alex Cobb drop kick which was received by Elliott Jay on the wing. He played it on to Jamie Heaffey, but his dangerous cross was met by the Croxley keeper just before Scott Howlett could get in a shot. Soon after, Scott hit a beautiful lob that beat the advancing keeper; however a defender cleared the ball off the line just as it looked like it was in.

 

The first half continued with West having the better of the play, as the spine of Charlie C, George Figg, and Jamie dominated, however Croxley did look dangerous when they counter attacked, and Alex was forced into making a couple of good saves.

 

After 23 minutes West opened the scoring, as a strong shot from George at the edge of the Croxley area could only be half cleared to Ryan Rickard who drove the ball home from 15 yards to give West a 1-0 lead. There were further chances to increase the lead but a combination of good goalkeeping and off target efforts meant the score remained 1-0 at half time, but with West deserving to go in ahead.

The second half was a complete reversal of the first 40 minutes, as Croxley had the better possession, while West were not as dominant. West almost doubled their lead though, as a good through ball from Chris Welch gave Charlie an opening; however his shot hit the post. Croxley continued to push forward though, and it seemed only a matter of time before they equalized. With 10 minutes remaining they scored a deserved equalizer, however 5 minutes later they scored again to lead 2-1. Alex made another great save to avoid a third going in, but
the game ended 2-1 to Croxley.

The result was disappointing as West had played some good football in the first half and could easily have led by more than the single goal. Poor finishing let them down though, as they had more than enough chances to avoid defeat.