Day 112

The Reserves hosted Hednesford in a friendly tonight. The core purpose of this fixture was to give match practice to Kanouté, Woods, and Sam Smith. But it was also another chance for Old, Chalwe, Mofokeng, Johann Smith, Khano Smith, and Tô to convince me they should get a contract offer.

Things did not get off to a great start. Kanouté conceded a penalty with a sloppy challenge just one minute, thirty seconds into the game. We were given a reprieve, though, as Callaghan put his shot on the wrong side of the post.

Three minutes later Hednesford hit us on the counter. A beautiful long ball over the top of our defenders put Chris Taylor through on goal. With only the keeper to beat, he made no mistake.

Then things turned from bad to worse. A 15th-minute corner wasn't adequately dealt with by Cunningham, and some pinball shooting led to Hednesford's second goal. I was stunned.

Johann Smith earned us a path back into the game on 17 minutes, drawing a foul inside the penalty area. Tô converted the spot kick, despite the keeper guessing the right way.

Then we took control of the game, dominating possession and pulling level with an excellent strike from Tô before the half hour mark. It was a nail-biting affair, as both sides threw caution to the wind.

In the 38th minute, Sam Smith did brilliantly to chase down a ball and muscle off the defender before turning goalward—but his shot could not match the gutsy run.

Chalwe put us in front on the stroke of half time, meeting a near post corner ball with a textbook header. I hoped we could score more after the break.

Woods threaded the needle to put Tô one-on-one with the keeper in the 60th minute, but the striker was caught just barely offside. Khano Smith then hit the bar with a vicious strike. The winger was having a great game, much as he did in attack last time out.

I subbed Woods out after 71 minutes. He took a knock early in the second half, and looked tired. No need to rush him to fitness.

Cunningham was lucky to stay on the pitch with eight minutes on the clock. He took down a Hednesford player with an awful two-footed challenge, right in front of the referee. He got off easy, though, with a yellow card.

Tô received the man of the match award, but it could have just as easily been handed to Khano Smith or Johann Smith. All three were fantastic. Woods and Sam Smith showed signs of promise, while Kanouté recovered well after conceding an early penalty.

Kanouté and Sam Smith are both good chances to start in the FA Cup match against Buxton on Saturday (five days from now). I'll probably put Woods on the bench. There's a league match away at Hayes & Yeading three days later, so I'll need to pick my team with that in mind. Buxton are from a lower league, so they should be a pushover. I can safely rest a few first-team regulars, but not all of them.