We travelled to Holloways park to face a very young vibrant Beaconsfield side that fielded the majority of their U18 including a Young Jack McKenzie who had a little stint with us at Preseason.

The game started off at a fairly quick pace with the devs getting two early opportunities, first off was a great ball across the box from Marcus Rivers which was met by Prince Nimoh but sadly sailed over the bar, within minutes of the first chance Tom shaw took a clever freekick down the line which had been created by the smart movement of Rivers and although the delivery was dangerous the young Rams dealt with it comfortably.

The pace of the game continued to be frantic with chances coming at either end, first off George Zammit pulled off a fantastic save to his left handside just before the Rams keeper followed suit saving well from a Marcus River drive.

As the half progressed The Young Rams started to dominate the possession of the ball with some really neat play, young Jack Mckenzie of the Rams was really causing problems down our left handside, this was becoming the battle of the game as Alex Mitchell who was sticking to task and doing everything he could to stop the creative outlet The Rams were looking to expoit.

In the 24th minute Zammit made another wonderful save and turned the ball into attack very quickly, Joe Chott got onto the end of it twisted and turned before releasing a shot to no avail.

This led to a spell of dominance for The Devs, a couple of chances one of which looked to be in from Marcus Rivers but hits the side netting.

On the next attack Prince Nimoh done what he has done all season, he put his Ghanaian dancing shoes on inside the box which completely mesmerised the opposition defender causing him to bring Prince down … Penalty to The Devs !!!

The ever Reliable Marcus Rivers steps up and strikes a beautiful penalty towards the side netting only for the Young Rams keeper to make a wonderful penalty save.

Within minutes The Rams keeper had made two more unbelievable saves, first off Tom Shaw strikes a thunderous shot into the top right corner yet some how the keeper gets a finger to it, from the resulting Tom Shaw corner Prince Nimoh heads towards goal only for the Keeper to get down low to his right to turn the ball away.

On the strike of half time The rams have a rare attack which sees The Devs initially clear but react slowly to the second phase, the opposing captain didnt and hit a phenomenal strike past the diving Dev keeper … 1-0 down!!!

The Devs head in at Half Time behind despite having the better chances.

For the Second Half we challenged The Devs to a front foot approach that saw us be more aggressive out of possession to try to encourage mistakes out of the younger opposition.

The second half began, we started quickly and had two opportunities in the first five minutes, first off Prince Nimoh went on another mazey run but couldn't get the angle to get the shot off before a beautiful piece of interplay involving 7 players ended with Jude G-B hitting a sweet strike just over the bar.

On the 59th minute we made our first two changes, off came Jude G-B & Joe Chott for Roshan Patel and Ivan Otono.

Both immediately got stuck into the action. Roshan Patel with his energy and enthusiasm, Ivan Otono with his direct pace and power in forward areas.

Although we had the control of the game it seemed to be petering out, a few half chances across the box came to nothing as did a couple of dangerous free kicks delivered by Tom Shaw.

The 74th minute see our third sub as the experienced Paolo Bagatti replaced the brilliant Alex Mitchell.

At about 75mins the coaching staff were about to introduce The Devs very own Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in Big Connor Wagner, there has not been a game this season where he has come on that he has not caused absolute mayhem but as this was being prepared Prince Nimoh went on another one of his direct runs which draws three opposition players to him, he drops the ball back to Roshan Patel who is in support, he lofts the ball into a great area which causes a melee of chances, first off a strike by Marcus Rivers hits the post, followed by Ivan Otonos follow up cleared off the line and finally lifted home by Roy Byron … The Devs level 1-1.

The conundrum for the Coaching staff was to stick or twist, well…. they decided to twist. They stuck with going two up top searching for the full 3 points on offer.

On came Big Connor Wagner and he didn’t disappoint, immediately throwing his weight around, holding the ball and winning headers.

Into stoppage time, we had been knocking at the door of the Young Rams side and in the 92nd minute we had our break through!!!

Marcus Rivers ran across the edge of the box and played a lovely reverse ball into the box, it fell at the feet of the man of the moment Prince Nimoh who had his first attempt saved brilliantly again by the opposing keeper before heading home the rebound … 2-1 to The devs

Seconds later the Full time whistle blew.

Man of the Match was undoubtedly Prince Nimoh. He was back to his electric self. Causing the opposition no end of problems, having a hand in both goals as well as the penalty he won.

With results elsewhere going our way, we are now 9 points from a potential league triumph. No matter the outcome the desire, belief and quality of this ever evolving group has been amazing. We now need to keep focus and keep working hard, if we do this the rewards will surely come.

UTFD