[choirboy]

First of all condolences to Dean Winnard and his family after the tragic loss of Dean's brother.
Puts the game of football into perspective really......

......To the match v Barnet which we won 1-0......
Well we deserved the victory and the three points gained was based on a very had working performance by our lads.

Buzza did an amazing job on the pitch after all the rain yesterday afternoon and into the night! The lad is a magician and deserves our total respect!

Inevitably the pitch did make it difficult to play our usual passing game but the lads persisted and after a quiet start we gradually took control of matters and could easily have gone in at half time a goal up on the balance of play.
The match really came to life after half time though and we deserved the goal advantage after Billy won the free kick just outside their box. Shay has learned that free kicks don't need to be blasted and that accurate placement is the key since the referees started to use the aerosol to ensure that the defenders retired a full 10 yards! From the Clayton end looking down the length of the pitch we could see perfectly how the wall lined up as well as they could but Shay had spotted the bottom left corner weakness and fully exploited it to perfection with a swerving and dipping kick over the wall! I feel that we could have capitalised on the lead by scoring again but it was not to be and a nervous last ten minutes beckoned!.......
To their credit Barnet tried hard to get back on terms and we retreated somewhat to defend on the edge of our penalty box but with some determined goal keeping from young Marek and heroic clearances form Hughes and Pearson we held out magnificently.
The singing and support form the Clayton end was simply outstanding in the last thirty minutes and I am sure that all of our players were lifted by our vocal support. Once again the support played like a TWELFTH MAN!

Some odd refereeing decisions again and I wanted to shout out to him..... "Take off your BEER GOGGLES Ref!"
Any how the result worked out OK in the end and I thought that we deserved our victory. For me Matty Pearson was our MOM as he once again played like 'Braveheart the SPARTAN'. Hughes was pushing him close though for his similar superb defensive play.
ON STANLEY ON.....
as we start to climb the table to security......
COME ON YOU REDS