Chiswick (A)

Staines made the short trip to Chiswick on Saturday. With this being the penultimate game of before the Christmas break, Staines were fully aware of the possibility of finishing top of the table at Christmas... but knew it was not going to be an easy game as Chiswick would be up for spoiling the party.

The game got underway with Chiswick having most of the possessional play and creating more chances in the few minutes. Staines were not fully switched on from the get home unfortunately and some sloppy play all around the park lead to creating multiple attacks and converting to make it 1-0. This may have been the kick up the backside that Staines needed to get going you would have thought, but this was not the case. Staines did create some chances shortly after Chiswick’s opening goal but were not able to make the most of these. It was just one of those days where things were not quite clicking. Chiswick continued to attack and managed to get two more goals before half time, with no response from Staines - 3-0 at HT.

After a very stern team talk at half time, Staines had to go out and put a better performance in the second half in order to gain some belief that they could get back into the match. Although Staines started to create more chances, they were just not able to find that finishing touch. The second half performance had improved marginally but not to the standard Staines have been playing all season up until this point. Chiswick managed score a 4th goal from a penalty flick and that was that. Unfortunately Staines did not show up at all and Chiswick punished them to take all 3 points. This was Staines’ first loss of the season. It was a very frustrating day at the office with a lot to reflect and improve on before the last game of this half of the season.

Next week sees Staines travel to Tulse Hill and Dulwich. It is important that Staines learn from this weekend and correct their wrong doings in order to finish off on a high and come away with 3 points from next week.