Poole Town 2 Cambridge City 1

Southern Premier League

14 November 2015

Poole gained the 3 points with a display which threatened dominance and derailment at the same time but in the end was neither. In the first half plenty of time was spent in the Cambridge half but chances were not converted. It was a relief when Roberts who has a knack of turning up in the right place at the right time turned on a ball in the area and converted well. As we waited for more goals to come Devlin turned inside and struck a fabulous shot beyond the keeper but saw it hit the frame of the goal. Half time was reached with the score at 1 - 0, scant reward for a good performance with Cambridge having a few shots but not really threatening with Tallack and Lindsay having good games.

A game which ought to have been closed out in the first half was brought to life as Cambridge pressed forward and equalised and if Cambridge had had any more about them the game might have been more difficult. Under heavy pressure from Roberts Poole's second came when a low cross was deflected into his own net by a defender. Brooks missed a sitter for the second week in a row when unmarked in the area he directed his header past the post. The game was played out without further drama to a satisfactory result.

Poole have played better than this but the three points were important to get the league campaign back on track and this result took Poole to the top of the league. Not taking chances is still a concern and seems to make things more difficult than they should be because teams which should be played off the park still have an interest in the game in the later stages. The conditions weren't ideal but the pitch played ok and the second half saw the fierce wind and rain subside.

My star player today was Steve Devlin. Of late he has been playing deep but in this game got forward enough times to shoot and create a real threat to the opposition goal. He was energetic getting back as well as forward and showed good distribution of the ball.