Tues 5th November 2013

2-1

At half time it looked like I would be dusting off the usual report of “Terrors loose at home to Horsham - Charman Scores”. However, a barnstorming second period finally delivered the goals that Tooting so richly deserved.

With eleven minutes to go man of the match Nathan Gordon stormed to the goal line to set up Max Noble for the equaliser. Three minutes from time Cecil Gee was scythed down in the box allowing new penalty king Jordan Cheadle to beat former King of the Terrors - keeper Dave - to claim a first home league victory against the Hornets since October 30th 1999, back at Sandy Lane.

Team: Williams, Turner, Gordon, Alimi, Cheadle, Hartburn, Knock, Quarm, Pinnock, Jee, Noble(Wedgeworth) Not Used: Wilson, Williams, Simpson,H Cheadle(gk)

Sat 9th November 2013

3-4

Five weeks ago, bottom of the table Town dumped Tooting out of the FA Trophy, having played much of the game with 10 men. This time the details differ, but the headlines remain the same.

The fact that poor refereeing allowed the thuggish visitors to escape unpunished for their uncompromising but effective close marking and that the scorer of the winning goal should not have been on the park, having taken a hefty swing at Josh Turner, hide the real reason for defeat - failure to deal with the direct threat of two seasoned forwards, who ripped the Terrors defence to shreds whenever they got the chance.

The afternoon started well, with Terrors playing the flowing football that we’ve started to get used to in recent weeks and within ten minutes Jordan Cheadle curled one around the keeper for the opener.  Persistent rain made the surface treacherous, with many players loosing their footing, this proved particularly dangerous when trying to defend against the visitors direct style of attack, which featured the twin threats of Billy Dunn and the evergreen Rocky Baptiste,  Four minutes after the goal and Williams had to make a smart save as Town broke through the middle, but the warning was not heeded and the equaliser soon followed.

As the visitors defence tightened up Nathan Gordon worked his way to the goal line, but his perfect cross across the goalmouth failed to attract an outstretched boot to apply a finishing touch. A few minutes from the break and Sol Pinnock had his effort cleared off the line, only for the visitors to break away and give themselves an interval lead.

Half time Tooting & Mitcham 1-2 Eastbourne Town

Reverting to three at the back Tooting quickly found themselves further behind, again through a direct breakaway move (and an excellent finish). Terrors continued to show the team spirit that is the glue needed to realise the potential of this exciting side and with 20 minutes left the increasing desperate defensive tactics of Town lead to Mbaye hacking down the tireless Cecil Gee in the box - earning himself a much deserved second Yellow card and enabling Jordan Cheadle to claim his second score from the spot.

Another lunge, this time outside the box, produced another free kick, but not within what is now known as the “Cheadle Parabola”. No matter though, the ball was simply tapped to the towering centre back who calmly completed his hat trick with a low shot that squirmed under the luckless keeper.

Comeback nearly complete we thought, but it was not to be. Andrew Mensah was dispossessed by Josh Turner and unleashed a haymaker at the defender which fortunately missed, although the incident occurred right under the noses of the ineffectual referee and one of his linesmen  -both chose to take no action.  Tooting were to be doubly punish for this spineless inaction as a couple of minutes later the offender led yet another breakaway and netted the winner.

Team: Williams, Turner, Gordon, Alimi, Cheadle, Hartburn, Knock, Quarm, Pinnock, Jee, Noble(Wedgeworth) Not Used: Wilson, Williams, Simpson,H Cheadle(gk)

Sat 17thth November 2013

3-0

Something about the sea air seems to disagree with the Terrors. With a performance not dissimilar to that at Hastings the team treated the bog end faithful to a display that failed to produce a single shot on target and a feeling that we were lucky to get away with just a three goal defeat.

For the first half hour Tooting were able to ride their luck, as the home side created little with from their wealth of possession. Ironically it was the two potentially threatening bits of possession that Tooting had, a Cheadle free kick outside the area and then our first corner, four minutes before the break, that triggered the conversion of home domination into goals .

Half time: Folkestone 2-0 Terrors

Things did not improve after the break. The flowing moves that we’ve seen in  recent weak never materialised, quickly dissolving as the midfield battle was comprehensively lost. A great double of goal line stops by Cheadle, followed by a fine stop by Williams, could not prevent the inevitable third goal.

Team: Williams, Turner, Gordon, Alimi, Cheadle, Hartburn, Knock(Williams), Simpson(Nkoma), Pinnock, Jee(Wedgeworth) Not Used: H Cheadle(gk)

Tues 20th November 2013

London Senior Cup  

1-5

A second string Terrors side, featuring a string of debutants, comfortably defeated their high flying Essex Senior League hosts. Antonio Simeone has returned from Chipstead and made his first appearance in a defence that also gave an opening start to stalwart bench keeper Harvey Cheadle.

A breakway by Williams and Gjonis first strike provided a two goal half time lead. After the break, and a Jordan Cheadle penalty, TJ Nckomo took advantage of a goalkeeping fumble for the fourth before Gjonis 20 yarder completed the Tooting scoring. Haringey staged a late rally which earned them a deserved cosolation goal.

Team: H Cheadle, Bikulian, Wedgeworth, J Cheadle, Simeone, Binns, Simpson, Regan(Barry), Gjoni, Nkoma, Williams Bryan(used sub)   Not Used: Obamwonyi

Sat 23rd November 2013

2-1

Tooting came from behind to take the points at the KNK Stadium. The  Terrors enjoyed early pressure with Bashuri Alimi having a low strike saved with Peter Wedgeworth and Colin Hartburn just off target with their efforts.

It was the visitors who went in front in the 25th minute when Will Turl cut in from the right and scored with a low drive past former Swans keeper Gareth Williams. Seven minutes before the break following a well worked move Max Noble had his shot saved by Dane Buss and  Walton’s Juan Onieva fired just over at the other end.

After the break the visitors went very close to going further ahead on the hour when they hit the underside of the bar from a corner. We got back on level terms in the 66th minute when a Walton player was adjudged to have committed a foul in the box and up stepped Jordan Cheadle to blast home from the spot to take him in to double figures for the season a very impressive record for a central defender. Some of Jordan’s strikes are really top drawer and if they were shown on match of the day everyone would be talking about them. Two minutes later we went close again when Andy Lomas cleared a United  corner off the line. A minute later we got the winner when Bashuri Alimi slotted home a cross from the left at the far post. Then Frankie Sawyer who looked very lively when coming on as a sub  had a goal bound effort deflected for a corner. We had a scare in stoppage time when a free-kick played into our box the fell to Kieran Lunn but he fired over.

A battling performance by team who really rolled their sleeves up in the second half with every one doing a shift. The side are still work in progress but there  are many encouraging signs. Well done to the staff and players there appears to be a great spirit within the squad.

Team: Williams, Turner, Gordon, Alimi, Cheadle, Hartburn, Wedgeworth(Simpson), Knock, Pinnock(Sawyer), Jee, Noble Not Used: Williams, Nkoma,H Cheadle(gk)

Match report by Ian Bullock.