The Forest Hall hoodoo continued with another away defeat to the mid table fellow second division side. With coach Alan Wilkinson away on a spying mission, chairman and ex first team manager Paddy Powlett took over the reigns. Prior to the game Paddy explained that, although the subsidiary cup was going to be used to give squad players the opportunity to prove that they are good enough to warrant a regular place, the competition was still to be taken seriously. The game was also seen as an opportunity to further review the idea of switching to three at the back.

In what could best be described as a disappointing performance there were few noteworthy incidents. In the first half King had a cross-cum-shot cleared off the line and Sherwood hit a post when perhaps he should have scored. The second half wasn't much better either.

Forest Hall took the lead when their midfielder took advantage of a slip from Hindley and drilled the ball low past Hepburn in goal. This actually came in a period when Garnett appeared to be building a reasonable momentum. They equalised within about 8 minutes when, moments after narrowly missing the target from a similar position, Williams levelled the score with a right foot shot from just inside the box.

The lead however was short lived and Forest Hall regained the lead from a half cleared corner. There was still sufficient time for Garnett to respond to this setback but the passing deteriorated immeasurable and not one decent opportunity was created in the final 20 minutes.

The only real positive that could be taken from the game was the performance of Karl Williams, who replaced the injured Thompson mid way through the first half. Although he is just coming back from a long term injury it could already be seen that he is a tidy player and looks an excellent addition for the club. Assuming he remains at the club, he will push Sherwood, Thompson and Hall hard for a regular starting spot in the 1st team next season.

Question marks remain with the proposed switch in formation.

Team: F.Hepburn, M.Brown, M.Menton, A.Alexander (S.Cavanagh), D.Corcoran, S.King, N.Hindley, D.Mercer, D.Sherwood, J.Thompson (K.Williams 1), J.Hall

NB: The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the
views of the Gosforth Garnett Bohemian Football Club as a whole.