No honey for the Bees at the Edge

It was always going to be a tough start to the game when the home team open their pitch at 11.55 when push back is Midday. There were some rumours that this was a ploy by Alderley to throw their opponents off and they'd secretly warmed up on another pitch ;)

The game finally got going on a surprisingly poor pitch, very bobbly and a difficult one to play on. Alderley had the better of the early chances and it took about 15 minutes to break down the Bees defence. Patrick Souter played a short ball to Ashley Critten, he took too long on the ball and was robbed by the attacker. He cut in and although Critten managed to get this stick down, it took a deflection and beat Colasurdo. A couple of short corners were repelled before the Bees finally got into the game.

Mark Ives and Antony Rigby played the wings well whilst Toby Carr-Brown was solid after making a rare trip back from his university in Hull. South Manchester found it difficult to create clear cut chances. Mark Ives was a whisker away from a short corner touch in on the back post and Gareth Hampton had a few half chances too. 1-0 to the home team at half time.

The second half started well for the Bees but Alderley doubled their advantage just 10 minutes in. A drag flick was well saved by Dean Colasurdo but the attacker picked the ball up first and rocketed it into the net, Ed Holmes agonisingly close to keeping it out. The Bees pushed on and great chances fell for Simon Lamb and especially Tom Hornsby who missed a few great chances to pull the Bees level. Tom continued working hard and a ball into the D by Hampton found Hornsby who simply touched it round the keeper and it rolled into the net. 2-1 with ten minutes to play and the Bees thought they might be able to snatch a point. It wasn't to be as just minutes later, the Alderley attacker strolled through defenders challenges before passing to his unmarked colleague to place home.

3-1 loss under tough conditions but a reasonably good performance from the Bees. In retrospect, the attackers could have, on another day, put in a few more and the defence could've stopped at least 2 of the 3 home teams goals.

Onto next week where the Bees welcome Macclesfield to the Hive. Some good games against this team last season, should be another good head to head.