With the weather putting paid to any hope of Pinewood hosting their tricky opponents, some last minute managerial comms saw the game reversed and Pinewood making their second visit of the league season to Earley to take on a tricky and pacy Laurel Park side who nearly took all three points from us in our early season meeting. In re-arranging the fixture Pinewood lost inspirational midfield general Will Taylor to a pre-existing afternoon commitment, and the suffered the late blow of losing creative force Zabi Parker-Silito to illness too, to compound their midfield woes. Still, the game was on!

In better news, top scorer Jackson Williams led the line, having missed the earlier season trip to todays opposition. Pinewood shuffled their pack after the slow start the week before, dropping captain Oli Thompson into the back 4 in front of keeper Fin Perryman and alongside Josh Hawkes, moving Fabio Farella to an unfamiliar wide position, Tegwyn Whawell taking the other full back spot, and Leo Fournier-Corats moving forward into the heart of the midfield after some impressive recent performances. Teddy Green came back into the starting line-up with Nevaan Patil on the opposite side of the pitch, Sam Clark anchoring the midfield with Zach Whiting sitting in behind the striker.

Pinewood made a much better fist of the start, immediately nicking possession from their confident opponents and charging forward, Teddy Green nearly poking home and drawing a corner from the opposition which came to nothing. Pinewood made much of the early running, pressing Laurel Park back and enjoying territory without really testing the keeper. Laurel Park looked dangerous on the break and channelled much of their play through their captain, the tricky No.7. Tegwyn stood up well to the challenge, even after finding himself overloaded more than once when Laurel Park roared forward quickly on the counter attack. Halfway through the half, Daniel was introduced for Nevaan and began physically pressing his full back, making it harder for Park to play down the wings, and Benn Staines came on at fullback for Tegwyn and took up where Tegwyn left off, defending well and stopping much of what came his way. We looked solid, right up until a tame cross came into the box and the ever reliable keeper Finley dropped, gathered, and the completely uncharacteristically spilled the wet muddy ball into the 6 yard box where the alert Laurel Park striker poked it home. 1-0 down and, such is our luck at the moment, somewhat against the run of play. To their credit, the lads kept working but Laurel Park had clearly grown in confidence. They looked comfortable absorbing Pinewoods (sometimes overly) elaborate build up play and began to nullify our pace out wide. Laurel Park looked dangerous and a mix up at the back between FIn and his defence saw the alert Park winger react to a loose ball first and slide into an empty net. 2-0 down, 33 minutes gone.

We spoke at half-time about how the game was still there for us. We had not played badly, but had to be alert to rapid transitions and counter attacks. The lads listened intently and after two more changes, reintroducing Tegwyn and Nevaan for Fabio and Teddy, we went back out confident. The game ebbed and flowed for much of the second half, Jackson and Zach working very hard to hold the ball up and invite a midfield charge that never really came. Just as it looked like legs were tiring, we won a throw in near the opposition corner flag and a herculean throw from Daniel found Jackson in the box, and the Pythons top scorer made no mistake! Bang - 2-1 with his 15th of the season. This should have spurred a reaction from the Pinewood boys but on a heavy, wet pitch and with limited midfield options in the absence of Taylor and Parker-Silito it was tough to get going. Laurel Park followed their coaches instructions and simply moved the ball into the Pinewood half at any opportunity without ever threatening to use the territory. We kept pushing, rotating players to try and inject some energy but ultimately fell short as the final whistle blew. A valiant effort, but ultimately the oppositions pace and counter-attacking approach paid dividends.

Its a tough start to 2026, and it would not have been overly kind to suggest we could have started with 6 points from our 2 games this year - we certainly do not deserve to have zero - despite our efforts and endeavour have been unrewarded, football can be a cruel game. They say form is temporary and class is permanent and so we will go again and rediscover our wining touch, working harder than ever to turn the tide next week and stay in touch at the top of the table. For this week, the whole team put in a shift but POTM went to Fabio for a great stint blunting the tricky winger from Laurel Park in a new position. Great effort Fabio!