Hounslow Wolves v West London Warriors

17h November 2021

Hounslow Wolves 1-4 West London Warriors

Starting XI: Killian, Yas, Vik, Dabeer, Rose, Sanjit, Sergio, Abdulmajid, Tams, Ish, Prince

On a cold and wet Sunday morning, the Wolves made the short trip up to old Isleworthians to face  West London Warriors in the 2nd round of the FA Junior cup. We key personnel missing, the Wolves knew that only a performance of the highest quality would see us progress into the 3rd round. Yas slotted into RB to allow Rose to fill in for the injured Rahul. Sergio was pushed into the midfield to accommodate the loss of Abdali through injury which meant a second cap for Dabeer at CB. 

With only 11 players available due to the infamous injury issues, manager Rishi elected to got with a 4-3-3 formation with Ish tasked to play the false 9 position that he had done so well the week prior against AFC Heathrow. 

It took only 5 minutes for West London Warriors to take the lead after a fantastic ball into the box was met by a Warriors header. Despite going a goal down, the Wolves looked to react quickly with some slick passing down the left channel. Tamim, Rose and Abdulmajid were finding the spaces but just lacked the final 3rd pass which would see us create a genuine chance. Tamim continued to show his quality throughout the half leaving the Warriors right back dazzled but couldn’t capitalise on the chances. 1-0 quickly became 3-0 after two quick fire goals from the Warriors with both coming from set pieces. CB’s Vik and Dabeer would have been disappointed to concede these goals after the dominant defensive performances all season. Skipper Sanjit did his best to rally the troops on the pitch but with momentum firmly with the Warriors, the Wolves knew they were going to be in for a long fight. With the half time whistle about to go, the Wolves conceded yet again to another cross into the box. 

4-0. A very disappointing half. 

With no substitutions available, Rishi insisted the main priority was to win the second half and not concede any more goals. The lads were visibly disappointed with the performance and knew they hadn’t been good enough in the first 45. 

With the second half under way, Wolves looked to get at least a goal back and applied significant pressure right from the off. Debutant Prince continued to show his heart and desire by making his forward runs coupled with sprints to get back into shape on defensive transitions. Gaps were starting to appear in the Warriors defence but we just weren’t able to capitalise on the opportunities. With a change in formation to 4-4-2 in the final 20 minutes, the Wolves managed to pull a goal back through Tamim but all in all it was a very disappointing result for the club. 

Lots of work to be done. 

MOTM: Sanjit