A brave and battling performance was not enough to stop a threadbare London Falcons side from failing to defeat in their season opener against Imperial College Old Boys 2nds.
Falcons XI: Matt H; Callum, Jeff, David, Chris; George (c), Charlie, Myles; Ed, Pete, Will
Goals: Pete
POTM: Charlie
Losing three players on the day to injury meant that the visitors had no subs to choose from ahead of their trip to Barnes to face the newly-promoted Imperial. What they lacked in numbers though, the Falcons more than made up for in grit and fight, as they dominated early proceedings. However, as the Falcons struggled to create clear-cut chances, they were sadly undone by two swift counter attacks. On both occasions, Falcons’ pressure in the final third came to nothing, with a speculative ball over the top cutting out the midfield and finding one of the pacy Imperial front three. From here, the hosts clinically dispatched two chances with a couple of classy finishes, to leave the Falcons with a mountain to climb at halftime.
With manager Pete limited in options, he instead refocused the minds of his players, with each man receiving instructions on how to improve upon their first half. His words undoubtedly took effect, with Falcons continuing to put their hosts under pressure despite their flagging early season legs.
Eventually the visitors were rewarded with a deserved goal, as Pete latched onto a ball from the right to split the centre back pairing and drill the ball from the edge of the box across the face of the net and into the bottom-left hand corner.
It was a gallant effort but still no points meaning that we go again next week against Surbiton Eagles in our quest for our first points of the season!