The Reserves played out a much tighter game against last week's Minor Cup opposition on a hard pitch in Blyth. Whilst the quality of football certainly improved from the previous (victorious) performance, there is certainly room for improvement in terms of passing, communication and delivery of the final ball.

However the Reserve team maintained their strong workrate with both Nick Guest and Ike Mitchell having some success down the wings. The Kent duo in the middle of the pitch worked hard all game to drive forward and break up opposition play. Blyth took the lead completely against the run of play when their No 10 flicked the ball up and over his head with his back to goal with Matty Laws marking him closely from behind and managed to nestle the ball in the top left hand corner of Peasons's goal.

The Reserves equalised when Harry Tulip benefitted from a collision between the opposition's goalkeeper and centre back and ran clear to stroke the ball into an empty net.   The Reserves pressed well in the second half looking for all three points, however inspite of some quality deliveries from Guest and Mitchell, Skilbeck and Tulip were unable to capitalise following some robust defence from the opposition centre backs.

A series of half chances for Skilbeck and Lee Kent in the last 10 minutes could have brought all points to the visitors, however the ball appeared unwilling to drop in the right place at the right time. Finally Matty Laws had an opportunity to repeat his goal scoring feat of the previous week from the same position but was unable to keep the header down.

The draw was probably a fair result and it is a measure of how much the Reserve Team has turned their early season form around that a decent opposition team, defeated only once all season, was easily held away from home. Further evidence of the strength of the squad was also evident in the quality of the substitutes brought into the game, with regulars Paul Turner and Lee Armstrong fitting seamlessly into the formation in the second half. The team spirit, willingness to work for each other and attitude of the whole squad (including the substitutues) is a credit to the club and the platform required for future success.

Author: A.Parkinson

Team: Pearson, Peat, Parkinson (Turner), Laws (C), Riley (Armstrong), Guest, Kent. L, Kent. G, Mitchell MOM, Tulip (1), Skilbeck.

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.