The exeat weekend provided a welcome rest for the majority of teams; however, the 1st XI had a tough midweek fixture against Forest Academy on our astro.
The opposition arrived fired up after their two losses against us last year and this showed as they came out of the blocks quickly moving into a 1-0 lead after we were unable to defend a long ball. Despite constant aerial bombardment we grew into the game and after some good build up play George was able to slot the ball past their keeper making it 1-1 at the end of the first third.
The 2nd third saw Monmouth dominate possession yet we couldn’t capitalise and after a mistake Forest Academy went 2-1 up. However, this was not the end for the Monmouth side whose high fitness levels became very clear in the last third as we raced into a 4-2 lead with George and Alex finishing off great team moves; and a penalty from me. Despite our clear attacking prowess we were unable to deal with the long ball and some errors lead to the opposition scoring two late goals.
This left the game ending 4-4; a disappointing result, but we can take plenty of positives from the game and we look to build on these against BGS and Clifton this week.
