Dan Kristall praised his team's character after a last-gasp effort from Kyle Bentwood secured maximum points from title hopefuls Oakwood A against Blizzard Storm in a game where credit must go to Simon Linden's men who defended superbly.
The first 30 minutes was an even contest and Oakwood struggled to find their rhythm. The hosts then made a tactical change and finally started to grow into the game and had a goal chalked off for offside after about 35 minutes. Had it stood, joint-manager Dan Kristall felt his team "would have won more comfortably but the longer the game remained 0-0, the more it gave Blizzard something to hold on to and by the final 10 minutes they were battling for the draw as if they were trying to win the Champions League".
Oakwood's goalkeeper didn’t touch the ball in the second half as Blizzard had 11 men behind the ball. Kristall added: "They certainly had one eye on the clock for the final 20 minutes."
Then a scrappy goal with almost the last kick led to Oakwood taking the points. Kristall told JC Sport: "These are the kind of games that you need to dig in and win and can end up looking back at the end of the season.
"We weren’t at our best today and we knew that when we came off the pitch. We were especially lacking composure in front of goal but we got our rewards for never giving up and continuing to attack right to the last minute to cue a massive pile on!
"Another clean sheet meaning only two goals conceded in our opening five league games. Attention now turns to the Anekstein in two weeks time followed by a really tricky trip to Redbridge, but we’ll be more than ready for both games."
"Finally, credit must go to our visitors who will cause teams problems this season if they continue to perform with that spirit and fight.
Blizzard boss Simon Linden told JC Sport: "We battled hard and dealt with everything Oakwood threw at us. They deserved the win after dominating the second half but credit to my team, we defended really well and it took 85 minutes for them to break us down.
"Next week is massive, huge game against Faithfold."
