Fowlmere Reserves 2 Litlington 1 BIS Division 4A LITLINGTON went into the opening match of the new season brimming with confidence but came away with nothing from a closely fought encounter against newly promoted Fowlmere Reserves. Litlington made a nervy

Fowlmere Reserves 2 Litlington 1

BIS Division 4A

LITLINGTON went into the opening match of the new season brimming with confidence but came away with nothing from a closely fought encounter against newly promoted Fowlmere Reserves.

Litlington made a nervy start to the game and could have been two down within the first 10 minutes but for poor finishing from the Fowlmere strikers.

The pace of the Fowlmere strikers was soon nullified following a restructure of the back four which saw Craig Ellis move to centre midfield and Ricky Wilson moving into the back four.

This move strangled the life out of the Fowlmere attack and it was soon Litlington's turn to mount some attacks.

The pressure finally told around the 30 minute mark when stand-in striker Andrew Orton glanced home a header from a wonderful free kick delivery from captain Gary Reader.

The remainder of the first half saw Litlington press for a second with James Weir, Afser Choudhury and Liam Butler going close on numerous occasions, but they were unable to add to their solitary goal.

The second half, like the first, started sluggishly for Litlington who once again were slow to get started.

Fowlmere pressed for an equaliser but couldn't break down the back four of Crosse, Wilson, Reader and Hawkins or the inspired Ben Bonfield in the Litlington goal.

Yet disaster struck for Litlington with just 20 minutes left on the clock when a shot from the edge of the box beat Bonfield and nestled in the bottom corner.

The goal brought Litlington back to life and only the woodwork spared Fowlmere from going behind for a second time when Salim Choudhury's rocket crashed against the upright.

With just 10 minutes left on the clock Fowlmere scored their second, though, and with it they took all three points.

Speaking about his side's performance, Litlington manager Ashley Hawkins said: "I thought we did enough to get a point from the game.

"Yes we were missing some key players but fair play to Fowlmere, they stuck to their game plan and took all three points.

"I thought as a team we defended better today than we did in many of the games last year and Ben Bonfield was superb in goal today.

"I am a little concerned about our slow start in games and that we can't maintain the effort for 90 minutes but that will come with training.