MATCH REPORTS - FEBRUARY
Saturday 22nd February 2020 Barking 2 Tooting & Micham 1
Tooting’s slump in form continued at Barking yesterday as they crashed to their fourth consecutive league defeat, the third in a row where they have tamely surrendered an advantage to come away with nothing.
That said, despite the blustery conditions and the strong gusting winds, Tooting started yesterday’s game very promisingly, with both teams attempting to play slick passing football during the opening encounters. The hosts started the game with the very strong wind behind them but fell behind in the 6th minute after losing possession of the ball on the edge of the Tooting penalty area. This led to Danny Bassett being released quickly down the left wing from where, after beating his man, he pulled the ball back, low and left footed, across the middle of the penalty area, to where Dan Williams was on hand to strike the ball first time with his left foot from about 12 yards out, and past ‘keeper Manny Agboola, to record his first goal for The Terrors and put them one up.
From that point onwards however it was as though both sides decided that the best way to deal with the 25mph gusting wind was to try and launch the ball long and high and there was an instant deterioration in the quality of football on display with Tooting struggling to get the ball beyond the halfway line before it was caught by the wind and taken in every direction other than the one that was intended, whilst the home side for the most part were equally as poor, continually launching the ball forward, more often than not, the wind taking it beyond the reach of their chasing strikers. Unfortunately for Tooting, on 27 minutes, just three minutes after Stefan Ilic had cleared off the line with his chest, the conditions worked in Barking’s favour when former Terror, Mike Dixon launched a high, speculative ball in towards goal from out wide in Tooting’s right. As the ball hung in the air, the wind took it over ‘keeper James Shaw, before dropping it against the underside of the crossbar, from where it then bounced onto the inside of the far post as Shaw desperately tried to scoop it away from goal. Much to his dismay however the Assistant Referee indicated that the ball had crossed the line before he could get it away and Barking suddenly found themselves on level terms while Shaw received a yellow card for his overzealous protestations. The final quarter of an hour or so of the half were played out in similar fashion and unsurprisingly there was no further addition to the scoreline although Terrors’ debutant Kladji Cani did come close with a curled free kick from the edge of the box which just went over the cross bar. HT: Barking 1, TMUFC 1
The second half started off in similar fashion to the first. Once again, Tooting, this time with the wind at their backs, started very strongly and won a succession of corners that caused problems in the Barking penalty area as the ball hung on the wind from the boot of Stefan Ilic. Unfortunately though, Tooting were not able to press home their early second half territorial advantage and as the game progressed, Barking came more and more into it again, breaking quickly when they had the chance, and as best they could, trying to keep the ball on the ground, and to feet, as they appeared to cope playing into the strong wind far better than the Terrors had done in the opening forty five minutes. A combination of these tactics and some slack defending on the part of Tooting saw Barking striker Dumebi Dumaka with the ball at his feet, and in plenty of space on 70 minutes, as he struck home what turned out to be the winner, unchallenged from around 14 yards out. Despite some late pressure applied to the Barking goal in the closing few minutes, it was not enough to make any impact and the home side saw out the remainder of the game to hold on for the victory. FT: Barking 2, TMUFC 1 Att 92
TMUFC line up; James Shaw, Dean Hamlin, Antone Douglas, Daryl Coleman, Nathan Daly, Kyrique Garvey-Williams (Dominic Morgan-Griffiths 73), Dominic Odusanya, Stefan Ilic (Ermis Mezini 80), Dan Williams, Kladji Cani (Christian Gitau Eneremadu 80), Danny Bassett, Unused subs; George Ademiluyi, Junior Timite
Saturday 15th February 2020 Ware FC 2 Tooting & Mitcham 1
Tooting slipped to a disappointing defeat at second placed Ware yesterday afternoon after being the better of the two sides in the opening forty five minutes.
In rain and wind, it was The Terrors that appeared initially to be the side best able to adapt to the adverse weather conditions and had the majority of the play in the opening encounters with their hosts offering little by way of threat up front. And it was Tooting who deservedly broke the deadlock on 28 minutes. It happened when Razzaq Coleman crossed a ball in from the left which went all the way across the six yard box, from where Stefan Ilic (pictured), making his second Terrors' debut, stole in at the far post to steer the ball home. The lead should then have been doubled just four minutes later when the referee pointed to the spot after a Ware defender was adjudged to have handled the ball after a goal bound effort from latest signing Dan Williams, struck him from a distance of about four yards. Danny Bassett stepped up to take the kick but it was kept out by home 'keeper, Calum Kitscha, only for the Terrors leading scorer to then blast the rebound over the bar. HT: Ware 0, TMUFC 1.
The second half was a different affair and it was the home side who had much of the play and created the better chances, pulling themselves level on 59 minutes through Leigh Rose. Unfortunately for Tooting, the killer blow was struck just four minutes from the end of the game when Joshua Williams snatched the winner for the hosts. FT: Ware 2, TMUFC 1 Att 172
TMUFC line up; James Shaw, Daryl Coleman, Nathan Daly, Antone Douglas, George Ademiluyi (Abdel Sahnoun 90), Razzaq Coleman, Dominic Odusanya (Kyrique Garvey-Williams 72), Dominic Morgan-Griffiths, Stefan Ilic (Christian Gitau Eneremadu 90), Danny Bassett, Dan Williams, Unused subs; Ermis Mezini, Junior Timite
Saturday 8th February 2020 Tooting and Mitcham 1 Chertsey Town 2
Tooting’s promotion push took a severe dent yesterday afternoon after a second consecutive defeat, this time at home to Cherstey Town, saw them drop to eighth place in the table, albeit with games in hand still against all of their rivals.
Despite having to make a very late change to the starting line up when new signing Duncan Culley pulled up injured in the pre-match warm up, Tooting started the game in a positive manner. It was a fairly evenly contested opening period though as Chertsey were clearly fired up, determined to erase the memory of Decembers 5-0 thrashing by the Terrors at Alwyns Lane. As much as the teams battled it out, they both struggled to create any clear cut chances and it seemed that any goals were likely to come from a mistake as there was little creativity from either side. The first such opportunity fell the way of the visitors after about 15 minutes when Sol Patterson-Bohner appeared to lose his footing some ten yards or so outside the penalty area. The player to take advantage of that and pounce on the ball as it rolled away from the Tooting skipper was former Terror Scott Day. However as he took the ball into the penalty area, James Shaw was very quick off of his line and met him with a strong tackle with his foot before the ball ran loose and the Tooting ‘keeper was able to pounce on it and gather it in. Both players went to ground however fortunately for the Terrors, the referee deemed Shaw’s challenge to have been a fair one and play was re-started with an uncontested drop ball to the Terrors. It was Tooting though, who broke the deadlock on 28 minutes. It happened when another former Terror, Chertsey’s player manager Kevin McLaren, tried to clear a ball from about eight yards outside his own box. Unfortunately for the Curfews, he only got a couple of yards on it before it ricocheted off of the legs of a Tooting player before being played forward into the path of Danny Bassett (pictured) running into the left hand side of the penalty box. He was quick to pounce, taking the ball in his stride before taking a left footed shot across goalkeeper Nicholas Jupp, and into the back of the net. The football hadn’t been pretty but both sides had battled hard with Tooting just about deserving their half time lead. HT: TMUFC 1, Chertsey Town 0
The second half was a different affair as Chertsey came out, upping their game to a level of intensity that Tooting struggled to match. They drew level with just under 30 minutes remaining in a goal that appeared to come from nothing. A shot was taken by a Chertsey player from the left hand edge of the Tooting penalty area. As the ball went seemingly harmlessly across the face of the goal, perhaps still suffering from the knock he took in the first half, rather than drop down on the ball, ‘keeper James Shaw chose to watch the ball, looking to see it out of play. Unfortunately for Tooting, former striker Jake Baxter was quick to react, and nipped in, in front of Shaw, to force the ball into the back of the net before the Tooting ‘keeper could see it out. Eight minutes later, in the 70th minute, substitute Jonathan Hippolyte put the visitors ahead when he was given time and space inside the Terrors penalty area to shoot and score.
Things continued to go downhill for the Terrors as six minutes later, skipper Sol Patterson-Bonher received a second yellow card for dissent just two minutes after receiving his first. There was still more drama to come though as ten minutes from the end of the game, Chertsey midfielder Casey McLaren received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Tooting substitute, Christian Gitau Eneremadu, making his debut having been signed from Merstham last month. Words were exchanged and feelings expressed on the touchline which then resulted in Joint Manager, Cornelius Nwadialor receiving his marching orders from the referee. Despite a determined effort in the final ten minutes, Tooting were unable to breakthrough a resilient Chertsey side that was equally as determined to hold on and take all three points back with them. It was no doubt a disappointing performance however on a positive note, our third recent new signing, Antone Douglas made his debut, having a solid performance throughout. FT: TMUFC 1, Chertsey Town 2 Att 325
TMUFC line up; James Shaw, Dean Hamlin, Sol Patterson-Bohner, Antone Douglas, George Ademiluyi (Dontai Stewart 75), Razzaq Coleman, Dominic Odusanya, Kyrique Garvey-Williams (Christian Gitau Eneremadu 46), Dominic Morgan-Griffiths, Connor French (Jamarie Brissett 46), Danny Bassett, Unused subs; Duncan Culley, Antonio Simeone.
Tuesday 4th February 2020 Bedfont Sport 2 Tooting and Mitcham 0
Our First Team never really got out of second gear and fell to a disappointing defeat at Bedfont Sports. The difference between the sides was two first half goals; the first, a strike from Max Oldham on 26 minutes which took an unfortunate deflection before hitting the back of the net, and the second, a far crisper effort from Andy Ali, two minutes before the break.
TMUFC line up v Bedfont Sports; James Shaw, Dean Hamlin, Sol Patterson-Bohner, Ahkeem Belford (Ermis Mezini 28), Jamarie Brissett, Razzaq Coleman, Dominic Odusanya, Kyrique Garvey-Williams (Junior Timite 73), Dominic Morgan-Grifiths, Connor French (Dontai Stewart 41), Danny Bassett, Unused subs; George Ademiluyi, Alex Filipe
Saturday 1st February 2020 Tooting and Mitcham 3 Waltham Abbey 0
Whilst some of those around them faltered, Tooting returned to winning ways this weekend with a convincing victory over Waltham Abbey, and rose back up to fourth in the table with games in hand.
Tooting went into the game without striker Hady Ghandour, whose trial with Charlton Athletic was extended last week, and the injured Daryl Coleman in midfield. However Coleman’s absence did mean that there was a first start for recent signing Dominic Odusanya. Connor French returned to the starting line up and there was also a second consecutive start for U23s striker, Dontai Stewart, following his impressive showing at Staines last weekend in French’s absence.
Whilst the Terrors had the better of the opening encounters, Waltham Abbey showed why they had risen up the table again in recent weeks, playing some good passing football, with Tooting ‘keeper James Shaw having to remain alert in the Terrors goal to ensure nothing was given away. Nevertheless though, it took Tooting until two minutes before the break to final break the deadlock, with the goal coming from an unlikely source. After some confusion, the goal was finally credited to skipper Sol Patterson-Bohner (pictured), after he received a huge helping hand from the Abbots’ ‘keeper, Charlie Crowley, who under pressure of the challenge, failed to hold on to the effort that had arisen from a high ball floated into the box, and appeared to spill it into the back of the net. HT: TMUFC 1, Waltham Abbey 0
No sooner had the second half kicked off, with supporters still in the process of resuming their positions following the break, Tooting had doubled their lead in the 46th minute, after leading scorer Danny Bassett struck a low diagonal shot from the corner of the penalty area, which took everyone by surprise, not least, the luckless, Charlie Crowley, as it arrowed into the back of the net. From this point onwards it was pretty much one way traffic as the Terrors dominated the game from here on in, going further in front just nine minutes later. Once again, it was that man Danny Bassett (Pictured) who found the back of the net, this time picking up on a long ball over the top from Dominic Morgan-Griffiths. With a clear run in on goal, he took his shot early, stroking ball past Crowley from around 30 yards out leaving the visiting defence to look agonisingly on as the effort just about had the legs to roll over the goal line before anyone could get to it. Despite dominating for the remainder of the game, Tooting were unable to add to their tally however saw out the remaining thirty five minutes comfortably to ensure that all three points remained at the Campus Society Stadium. FT: TMUFC 3, Waltham Abbey 0, Att 237
TMUFC line up; James Shaw, Dean Hamlin, Sol Patterson-bohner, Ahkeem Belford, Jamrie Brissett, Razzaq Coleman, Dominic Odusanya, Dominic Morgan-Griffiths, Dontai Stewart (Kyrique Garvey-Williams 76, Connor French (Luis De Sousa 82), Danny Bassett, Unused subs; George Ademiluyi, Alex Filipe, Antonio Simeone