 It was another sunny October Saturday for the Shadows to face off against Croydon and Old Whitgiftian’s. Blood pressures were as high as spirits due to the keeper arriving 8 minutes prior to pushback!!
The Shadows came out well and played a strong possession game starting the scoring with a well hit strike from skipper Ed Cheng following a good string of passes. Croydon came back strongly and managed to get a score from a messy goal-line melee, and a good deflection goal following a minor lapse in concentration from the Shadows. A late short corner saw Croydon’s 3rd Goal following a second phase strike. Half time score 3-1.
A half time team talk focusing on the positives from various passages of play in the first half buoyed the Shadows up to come out strong in the second half. Both teams jostled for periods of the second half struggling to gain the upper hand. Some key, if occasionally messy, saves kept the Shadows in the fight, eventually gaining the upper hand and seeing a second goal from skipper Ed following another strong period of passing play.
Simon Higgins controlled the midfield well and his experience will be vital this season as the shadows seek to avoid the close finishes of seasons gone. Despite pushing hard the Shadows couldn’t find any further goals - Final score 3-2.
Man of the match went to Cheng for a brace of goals, DoD going to Lewis for a lack of timekeeping ability... | 
