Wokingham & Emmbrook continued their superb winning run with another clean sheet under the lights at Lowther Road against Kidlington Reserves.
Suma’s visitors from Oxford on Tuesday night were Kidlington Reserves. The game started quite tentatively and a free kick to Sumas went direct to Max Dunmall in the Kidlington goal. Sumas went through phases of accurate passing throughout the game.
Jake White and Luke Scope both battled away without either scoring. Kidlington missed a chance and was headed away by a Sumas defender. Sumas pressurised and pushed up again but the ball went back into midfield until the offside flag.
Scope and White combined and the shot was palmed over the top by the keeper. A series of free kicks culminated in the yellow card for Ethan Merry.
Jake White curled one over the crossbar then another Jake White free kick sailed harmlessly over the bar. Before half-time Harry Sturgess was shown the yellow card.
Two free kicks started off Sumas campaign in the second half during which Kidlington were reduced to 10 men after a second yellow card was produced to Merry.
Breaking out of defence, the Sumas reached the opposition box zone and Liam Eagle rose to crash the ball into the net with a perfectly timed header.
After the restart from the centre spot, Sumas did just about everything but score from each approach which was headed away or cleared without any addition to the fragile single goal lead. After 64 minutes, Will Day cracked in a low shot to double the total.
Substitutes appeared replacing selected players as the game progressed. It was not always obvious that Kidlington were only 10 men since Tariq Yousef was playing like two men at times.
Time ran out and Sumas claimed two goals, three points and are top of the table. They host Long Crendon on Saturday.
Dan Bateman hailed his team’s performance as one of the best since he has been in charge.
“I was so pleased with Tuesday’s performance, it is definitely one of the best team performances since I’ve been in charge of this group,” said Bateman.
“Again we were well organised and weathered the storm after they threw a lot at us in the first half, in particular they were in control in the first 20 minutes.
“After the sending off we took control of the game. We can’t always have all of the game our own way so we had to be patient and wait for our chances but we did well to limit their chances and took ours when they came.”
Bateman is keen for his side to maintain their winning start to the season which sees them with a five point lead at the top of the table.
He continued: “I like Long Crendon as a side, they’ve kept their core of the team together for a while and it’s led to them being well organised and difficult to beat. We will certainly have to be on our a game to beat them. We’re challenging the boys to keep this winning run going and seeing how long it can continue so we can’t allow for any kind of complacency.
“It’s too early for us to look at the league table but we’re more than satisfied with our start, it couldn’t have been much better. We’ve got the points on the board and that’s the most pleasing thing.”
Wokingham & Emmbrook: Woodward,[GK], O’Connell, Day, Guest, L.Eagle,[c], Cummuskey, Mullan,, Byrne, Scope, White, N. Bateman.
Substitutes: Clark, Badshah, Carter, C.Eagle.
Report by Arthur Strand
