Cardea Shocked By Fletton Late Show

The match was moved to Ringwood, Bretton late on Friday to ensure the completion of the match due to the recent bad weather. This was Cardea's first league game since the last week of November due to cup competitions and postponed games.

Cardea started with a 4-4-2 with Mike Dandrilli and Brendon Chapman up front and Daniel Robinson and Kynan Bereznyckyj on the wings.

The first half was a very uneventful affair with barely any chances being created. The first goalkeeper called into action was Cardea's when Anton Fountain had to make a near post stop to deny the Fletton left winger a goal.

With ten minutes to go in the half a sliced cross from Dandrilli was tipped over the bar by the Fletton keeper. Half time arrived and while Cardea had the majority of the ball they had failed to create any good openings.

Adam Simons, Tom Broughton and Ryan Moore all came on at half time as Cardea changed to a 4-3-3 formation as they looked to find a goal.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first until the last twenty minutes when the action started. Simons had two chances in a minute, firstly he was put in by Michael Williams but his shot went wide of the target. Moments later Daryl Patrick played him in and the outcome was the same as the first attempt.

On 75 minutes Tom Broughton showed good feet to cut in from the left hand side and worked a good shooting chance for himself but his shot went just over the bar.

Cardea hit the woodwork two minutes later when a cross was headed onto the post by Patrick and the loose ball went between Patrick and Broughton and Simons had a tame effort that was cleared.

With five minutes to go Fletton took the lead against the run of play. As Cardea pushed forward gaps were left at the back and the Fletton striker scored with a wonder shot from 25 yards that arrowed straight into the top corner.

Cardea's response was instant as they threw everything at the Fletton goal in search of an equaliser, and it came through Broughton. The ball was crossed in by centre back Tony Harper and the ball was not cleared and Broughton volleyed in from 10 yards.

Cardea went forward again and forced a corner which was floated to the back post where Patrick was waiting but his shot went wide.

As the game entered stoppage time Fletton stole a winner when their striker was all alone up front and his shot bobbled under Fountain's outstretched arm to give Fletton the 3 points.

The referee brought the game to an end and the loss could have huge implications for Cardea's title push.

After the game Craig Robinson said: "The game wasn't enjoyable to watch and we gave the ball away to cheaply. We didn't cause their back four enough problems and wasted the few chances we did create."

Kevin Webster added: "I thought we were carrying players out there, everyone needs to realise they have to put a performance in to stay on the pitch. Everyone moans when they are on the bench or get subbed but they need to look at their own performance and realise it's just not good enough to win games, let alone titles.

"There were no positives from today's game and there was no man of the match, if anyone thought they played well let me know which game you were watching!!

"If we continue to go into games thinking we are going to win easy we are mistaken. We have lost to two poor teams because you have already thought the game is won before kick off, take this as a wakeup call and sort yourselves out."

Cardea's next match is away to Black Bull next Sunday at a venue to be confirmed.