Fleet Spurs 1 Tooting Bec 1 (Combined Counties League Division 1)

Report By John Porter

Spurs were on top in the first half and might have had more than a one-goal lead at the interval, but missed a few good chances. After the break, Bec gradually came Into the game, equalised and might have grabbed the winner but for some sterling defence by the home side. To sum up, a draw was a fair result, as both sides agreed, while probably feeling slightly disappointed not to have won.

Fleet seized the initiative from the start, closing down Tooting in all areas of the pitch. The visitors were pinned back for most of the time, though they looked dangerous on the rare occasions that they broke away, and after five minutes the ever-dangerous Eddie M’bango forced Mark Appleby into a good diving save. Spurs were creating more clear-cut scoring chances and visiting keeper David Whyte had to make a spectacular save, turning a goal bound effort from Lewis Visioli over the bar. Midway through the half, Fleet at last took a deserved lead when Mark O’Reilly shot low and hard through a crowd of players following good work by Jamil Saleh on the right. The home side should really have increased the lead, but good defence and some careless finishing kept the score at 1-0 at half-time. Spurs were delighted to be ahead, particularly because of such a dominating performance against an excellent side.

The Bec players had clearly received some strong advice from their management team as they came out after the break showing much more purpose. As the game progressed, they established a clear dominance as the opposing players tired. However, Fleet defended with great resolution, including an excellent save by Appleby followed by a spectacular goal-line clearance by skipper Chris Barnes, and kept the visitors out until the 80th minute, when eventually they equalised. M’bango was bearing down on goal forcing Rob Parrott to make a last-ditch attempt to stop him, and the referee awarded a penalty. M’bango himself took the kick, giving Appleby no chance with a low shot into the corner of the net past the keeper’s left hand. It looked as if Bec might go on to claim all three points, but another spectacular goal-line clearance, this time by Vic Mudonhi, well into stoppage time saved a point for Spurs as the game came to a frenetic conclusion.

Fleet remain bottom of the league, and are now two points behind local rivals Cove. However, if they can continue to perform as well as they did in the first half – which the sporting Tooting Bec chairman described as the best performance by any of their opponents since they joined the league – they may still be able to climb out of trouble. The new players brought in by Adrian Wilson have made an immense difference to the standard of Spurs’ play, and indeed it was noteworthy how the individual performances of the well-established players have improved. Spurs’ next game is on Saturday when they entertain local rivals Farnham Town at Kennels Lane (kick-off 3.00).

Spurs team: Mark Appleby, Robert Parrott, Victor Mudonhi, Douglas Noble, Chris Barnes (capt), Jamil Saleh, James Scott (sub Jack Church 65), Lewis Visioli (sub Sam Knowles 77), Jake Bellmaine, Adam Bellmaine, Mark O’Reilly (sub Ivan Nsimbi 59)