Report filed by John Matthews

Old Amersham Players (OAPs) 3 Raging Fever 2

Fever dropped into Amersham for a game against the Old Amersham Players (OAPs) on their way to St. Albans. The previous year the sides fought out a competitive game, resulting in a 4-3 loss to Fever, so another close encounter was expected. The game kicked off early in glorious sunshine, and some of the football reflected the positive weather.

The OAPs started the brighter, and their right winger Mark terrorized Geoff Carter from the first minute, displaying speed and skill rarely seen this season. A succession of crosses from this area should have given OAPs the lead, but profligate finishing kept the scores level for the first 15 minutes. OAPS made the breakthrough, however, when they switched to a long-ball approach, causing confusion in the Fever defence, and with Rob Muskett, Nick Holloway, and Danny Wells leaving it to each other, Gerry chipped the loose ball into the empty net.

Fever responded to the setback positively, and began to increase their level of possession. This resulted in some speculative efforts from Dan Pear that rarely troubled the OAP keeper. After 25 minutes though, a loose ball fell to Andy Hill, eight yards out, who having controlled it found the bottom corner. It was Hill