We fielded a squad of 8 for our match against Locomotive Southgate earlier this evening with Ozel Ozerman making his first appearance in goal for a couple of years. Alan Barnard, Jim Arrowsmith, Danny Hagan, Kris Spyrou, Tem Adil, Lee King & Ollie Tedder made up the rest of the squad, but we were missing regulars Simon Jackson, Terry Moore, Martin Loveday & Danny Smith amongst others, so it was always likely to be a tough ask to get a victory against a reasonable side who we had failed to beat in our two previous meetings.
We soon found ourselves 2-0 down after only 11 minutes to very good finishes and things were looking rather ominous at that point. However, Lee King pulled a goal back a couple of minutes later with a close-range finish after a good run and cross by defender Alan Barnard...despite me telling him to stay at the back in a 2-3-1 formation ! In fact Barney then came forward again and equalised just before half-time with a well-struck long-range shot, although Locomotive Southgate had an outfield player in goal who obviously didn't fancy diving !
It had become a very even game by then and that continued for the first 10 minutes of the Second Half with both sides having chances. Locomotive Southgate got far more of their efforts on target though, and they snatched a winner 10 minutes from time after a desperate scramble in our area during which Oz made one of several excellent saves to keep us in with a chance. We really didn't test their keeper enough in the Second Half though, and we probably deserved to lose 3-2 in the end.

Next Thursday should see a few key players return, which we will need against leaders Wood Green Old Boys.
The squad for that match will be announced on the Forum on Tuesday morning, as it is a Bank Holiday Weekend.