Report
Tommy Lee’s appointment as the new Lilywhites’ manger could not have got off to a better start. He made three changes to the team bringing in Gary Lynch, Carl Fannon and Jamie Reilly, it was also ‘keeper Jack Rachid’s home debut.
It was Carl Fannon who took control of the midfield for most of the first half providing expert long passes to set up Reilly and Gildersleve on many occasions. Most of the first half was a real end to end fight with with Molesey looking strong on the attack but without a clinical finish and the Lilywhites forcing many errors in the Molesey defence. Jack Rachid was called on to make a great save in the 19th minute when Molesey’s Musgrove had a long range shot which caused Rachid to dive wide to his right to tip the ball onto the post and back into play.
On 32 minutes Molesey’s Musgrave tried again, he sent a skimming shot in from twenty yards. Rachid saved but could not hold the greasy ball. John Wilfort reacted more quickly and slipped the loose ball into the net from five yards. The Lilywhites were not down for long though and opened up a sustained attack on the Molesey goal. Within five minutes they were back on level terms when ‘Man of the Match’ Lee Gildersleve went up for a high ball in the middle of the penalty area. He was surrounded by Molesey defenders and which only made it difficult for Batty in the Molesy goal: his punch was poor and only went back to the same place where Gildersleve and now Notley rose higher then the defence. Gildersleve got hit and Notley hit the back of the net.
The second half consisted of attacks and counter attacks by both sides. On more than a few occasions Molesey managed to send the ball across the face of the Lilywhites goal face but, as seemed usual for them, there was nobody to convert. Both Cyril Baffour and Carl Fannon took control down the left side and sent in any number of crosses. On 80 minutes the pressure told when Cyril centred for Gildersleve to take the ball down shield it from the defender and send a short pass to Jamie Reilly who drew the ‘keeper, rounded him and shot into the empty net. From that moment until the five minutes injury time was up, the Lilywhites retained control and were well worth their win.