Saturday’s match against Moulton looked to be a difficult encounter, if you just looked at the league table and recent results for the two sides, but FCP has a habit of rising to the occasion.

The junior section of the Green Army was in good voice even before kick off and continued to lead the chanting throughout the match. The teams came out in unusually warm November sunshine and the crowd kept an impeccably observed minute’s silence for Remembrance Day before kick off.

The first half was a bit of a stale affair, with not too many clear chances created by FCP. Moulton seemed to be content to let us bring the ball out from the back, organising themselves as we advanced, and they appeared to have no concerns about the threat we posed. They were solid at the back and our forwards weren’t getting much reward for their running as our passes were defended well.

Moulton looked sharp in attack and moved the ball well, but defensively we were a match for them and when we were breached, Sam Edwards was showing everyone exactly why we signed him. He made a number of saves and dominated the area on crosses.

After a couple of FCP attacks fizzled out, as a couple of long shots when he was in space wide on the right left Derrick looking very frustrated, we finally got in behind the Moulton defence as half time approached.

Derrick was in and close to the by-line, held on to the ball and waited for support to arrive in the box, then found Dom, who swept the ball into the net for his third goal in a week. He ran across to Derrick to celebrate as the rest of the team joined in, and we got to the break a goal up.

I was expecting Moulton to really come at us in the second half and felt they had perhaps taken us a bit lightly, as to me it looked as though they had another gear to find. They had played good football and looked threatening, but they hadn’t really put their foot down yet.

The second half began and Moulton did put more pressure on us, but I thought we were superb at the back again. Quite often this season, I’ve felt everything was a bit frantic at the back. We’ve been playing out with one touch football at pace and often losing the ball too easily, and we’ve been too open as a result.

Last week we played a much more composed game and that continued in this game. We looked comfortable under pressure, took our time when we had the ball and were much more solid in defence.

Moulton kept coming but the defence was strong and, once again, Sam kept them out when he was required and our habitual vulnerability at set pieces wasn’t there.

In fact it was FCP who scored again to take control of the game.

A Moulton player tried to con the ref with a dive in midfield, but he wasn’t fooled and gave FCP the free kick. The ball was cleared but recycled and there was Toby, who ran on to the ball with nobody anywhere near him, to stretch out a leg and put it past the keeper for 2-0. It was an excellent finish and that felt like game over.

But this is FCP… almost immediately, the referee awarded a penalty to Moulton and I was fearing the worst, but Sam saved brilliantly down low to his left to keep the score at 2-0.

The rest of the game resumed the same pattern. A bit of Moulton pressure, counters from FCP, solid defending, safe goalkeeping and time moved slowly as we edged toward the end of the match. It actually felt like a very comfortable match until the clock seemed to stop, for the second week in a row, and endless stoppage time was upon us.

Moulton finally managed to score and all the doubts (in my head anyway) returned. Where was he getting this stoppage time from? A late corner was dealt with and finally the whistle blew to end the game. An excellent performance was rewarded with three well deserved points.

Everybody played well, but Sam Edwards deservedly swept up the sponsors and Green Army Man of the Match awards.

Goals
Dom
Toby

Match Report by Tim Symonds