FC Samba Online

McDonald rang the changes for the fixture against Kashmir in an attempt to halt a slump that had seen Samba take only 1 point from the previous 9 on offer. The formation was switched to 3-5-2, with a debut for Mike Wyatt and a recall for Jones and Street into the midfield. Wilford, Hawkins and Misiuda were the unlucky ones, who had to be content with a place on the bench.

The pitch was by far the smallest of the season, though appeared to be a decent playing surface, and Samba had the wind in their favour in the first half.

It was important that Samba got off to a good start but the opposite happened with Samba conceding a soft opening goal from a set play. A free kick was chipped towards the back post and slack marking allowed the Kashmir man to get his outstretched foot to the ball. His connection wasn’t great but it was sufficient to divert the ball past a wrongfooted Nicholls and Samba were behind.

A poor start became disastrous when Samba lost a second goal, again from a set piece. This time it was a corner that did the damage and when Nicholls couldn’t claim the ball, a scramble ensued in the 6yd box which resulted in the ball being forced over the line.

With Samba facing an uphill struggle, they started to get the ball down and create chances. It would be an unfair assessment to say Samba hadn’t looked capable in the opening exchanges but set piece defending had let them down. However, a passage of play commenced that saw Samba lay siege to the Kashmir goal.

At first chances came and went without Samba reducing the deficit. Wyatt headed wide from a corner after losing his marker for a free header and Brewer saw his close-range shot smothered by the keeper. Gibbons was desperately unlucky with a well hit volley that brought a smart save from the Kashmir keeper but it only appeared to be a matter of time before the breakthrough was made.

As Samba continued to pressurise Kashmir, Francis took the ball into the box and was faced up by the defender. Francis tempted the challenge from the centre half on several occasions before the defender finally took the bait, tripped the Samba winger and the referee awarded an easy penalty. G.Taylor stepped up and thumped the ball in off the post for an unsaveable conversion, even if it was a little to close for comfort for the Sandboys.

At 2-1 down Samba kept their foot to the pedal and when G.Taylor’s shot was saved by the keeper, Gibbons swept the ball home for the equaliser after arriving late from the left hand side. It had been an all action 1st half and there was still time for Gibbons to go close to giving Samba the lead , when his shot cleared the crossbar.

At half-time there only looked like one winner as Samba had not been troubled by Kashmir since they went 2-0 ahead.

Half Time: FC Samba 2 v 2 Kashmir

Samba started the 2nd half against a wind that appeared to have strengthened to a gale. Samba struggled to gain any passing momentum and could not get to grips with the conditions. Kashmir were not creating chances either but were winning a lot of ball in midfield as Samba struggled territorially. Samba lost Francis to a hamstring injury, as the winger’s recent terrible injury run continued and he was replaced with Misiuda.

The game was drifting and Samba were becoming frustrated at their inability to boss the game as they did in the 1st half. Kashmir’s main threat always looked like being from set-pieces and it was to be Samba’s undoing for the third time in the match. The corner was floated in and as players challenged, the ball hit a Samba man on the back, and fell delightfully for the Kashmir man to volley home from 6yds.

At 3-2 down Samba knew they had to play better and within 5 minutes created their best chance of the half by far. G.Taylor was sent clear with defenders in hot pursuit. His low drive was hit well enough but was too close to the keeper enabling him to make a smart save.

In the final fifteen minutes Wilford and Hawkins were introduced as Samba made one last push. Whilst they managed to put some pressure on Kashmir it wasn’t enough and in fact Kashmir came close to extending their lead, only to be denied by a good Nicholls save.

At the final whistle Samba reflected on more wasted points and knew that for the time being at least, they were adrift of the pacesetters.