Sunday saw Barnes Stormers compete in a fiery Barn Elms derby against South West Atheltic. Barnes were aiming to start the game quickly to overcome the disappointment of their cup exit last weekend. Despite welcoming Joan back, Barnes were on the end of a heavy 4-0 defeat and, in truth, did not perform to the standard shown in previous week's.
Barnes started slowly conceeding a freak opening goal directly from a corner. The windy conditions meant that Charlie was left with little chance from the wickedly struck corner. The boys struggled to get any rhythm and conceeded again after a defensive mix up led to a tap in for South West. The boys heads did not drop but chances were few and far between as the lads struggled to get out of their half. As the half wore on, the tackles began to fly in with Jonny on the receiving end of a particularly heavy challenge. Casey provided some moments of quality in the first half, playing Bradley through a few times but to no avail. Tempers started to heat towards the end of the first half as Barnes almost pulled one back from a chance via one of Casey's trademark long throws. This gave the boys reasons to be optimistic going to the break, especially as they had turned around a 2 goal deficit the week before.
Several changes were made, putting in solid displays. The changes were effective, as Barnes saw more of the ball after the break, but they struggled to carve out many opportunities from open play.
Tempers spilled over at corner after Jack had come close to scoring, he appeared to be kicked on his way back to get into position. This led to several yellow cards being dished out due to the altercation that followed. There were more strong tackles shared between the teams.
Jonny came close to finding the back of the net after Liam had been clattered, as Barnes started to get some momentum. But, two more errors at the back led to 2 more South West goals, as Barnes' defensive mistakes were punished by a ruthless South West attack. The game ended with more tension, with tempers flaring once more and more yellow cards being dished out for several altercations. This ultimately killed any chance of a Barnes comeback as the boys struggled to create any further opportunities, other than Casey being unable to hit the target late on with free kick.
After the game Jacko sat all the boys down and reiterated the need to stay calm and keep their heads. It was made crystal clear that the performance would need to be much better next weekend. Mo, Casey, and Hussain all provided key takeaways for the boys to think about over the next week.
Jacko speaking after the game "The overall performance was not good enough, but there were individual highlights as Ali made several key saves, and it was great to welcome Joan back. We'll gather ourselves and go again next week with 3 points a must. We win and we lose as a team, and even a defeat like this has not killed the team ethos. All the boys are keen to get back on the pitch and make amends for today."
Next up for Barnes is the reverse of Sunday's fixture against South West Atheltic. Head down to Barn Elms for 10:30 to give the boys a shout!
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