Mach One — Sat 15 Oct 2005

Match report

Half time: 2 – 1

After the disappointing exit in the League Cup last week, Rod Bassett expected a much improved performance this week otherwise Samba would be facing another heavy defeat. Micky Lucas came back into the side on the left wing and Daniel Cook made his first start of the season at centre half. Samba’s opponents today Mach One have thus far sustained an impressive start to the campaign with 4 wins out of 4. FC Samba would have to produce the kind of performance that has graced the Burtonbeau in previous seasons to upset the pace setters. Samba started off well with some good passing moves and closing down the opposition well. A couple of long range shots from Samba failed to trouble the goalkeeper but Mach One looked like a team lacking confidence in the final third. Samba broke away after a long ball from defence found Shenton on the right wing, he played it back to Hawkins, who then returned the ball back to Shenton who produced a defence cutting cross which found Hill rising at the back post. Hill rose above the defender to head into the top corner to make it 1-0 to Samba. A great start for Samba, one which they needed to build on. Some strong challenges made the game a bit tasty but Samba continued to try and play their passing style and it paid off when a pinpoint throughball from Hawkins fell to the feet of Shenton, who turned and buried into the top corner to make it 2-0. A brilliant first half by Samba, just what Rod Bassett wanted from his side this week. Mach One seemed to wake up once they were 2-0 down and started to play some neat football. A foul about 40 yards from goal gave Mach One a chance to force a save from Samba keeper Dave Ince. A high ball tested the Samba defence and poor marking led to the striker being free to fire past the stranded keeper. 2-1 A sloppy goal to concede after so much hard work had already been sustained. Mach One were taking advantage now and nearly scored a duplicate goal when the same player was unmarked but thankfully the samba defence cleared to end the first half

In the half time team talk, Rod Bassett required the same amount of effort but he wanted it for the whole game not just a half like Samba have shown in previous weeks. Samba started confidently again and when Francis was tripped in the penalty area and the penalty was awarded, Samba sensed an air of optimism. With Hill being replaced by Postulan, Francis stood up to take the penalty and placed it in the left hand corner to send the goalkeeper the wrong way. 3-1. Samba were still in a precarious position as a loss of concentration could allow Mach One back into the match. Mach One were contesting every decision the referee made and then with 20 minutes to go Francis produced the finishing touch to an impressive performance as he picked the ball up from 25 yards fainted and then drilled a powerful shot that flew into the bottom corner. 4-1. Rod Bassett wanted his side to keep possession and play the game out as Mark Bassett was replaced for Sharp with a calf complaint. The whistle went and Samba had ended Mach One’s 100% record for the season and moved themselves up to sixth in the table.