Pulled from the Fire Southbank recovered from two goals down to snatch a creditable draw away at top of the table pace setters Cholsey United on Sunday morning. Despite the absence of a number of players and arriving at the wrong ground, the Bank was still able to field a strong team and knew they would have to work extremely hard to gain anything from this game and keep any promotion ambitions within reach. Cholsey for their part had won their first 7 games, which includes beating the Bank 2 nil in Oct and the rest of the league was in danger of falling too far behind them even with two thirds of the season left. The ambition of the game was simple don’t lose!!! However, the realisation of needing to work hard seemed to be missing in the Bank’s first half performance as Cholsey were allowed to set the pace despite Southbank deploying a different formation from previous weeks. Cholsey were rewarded for their efforts with the first two goals which from a Southbank view, could have been avoided as defensive mistakes led to Cholsey having the opportunities and they took them clinically. Having conceded two goals in the first 30 minutes, Southbank regrouped and attempted to win more of the midfield battle and find a footing in the game, which as the half wore on were able to achieve. Benji operating on the right at Hightower’s request worked tireless to create space and chances, whilst Bellman on the other flank toiled and tried to get something down the left. The midfield trio continued to battle and as the half went on won more second balls but more was needed if the Bank were going to recover the match. Changes were made tactically at half time, as Benji was released to his preferred central striking role with Woodrow dropping deeper into midfield and the Bank set about the second half with one message, the next goal must be ours!! Cholsey having set the pace in the first half failed to duplicate this in the second and the first 10 minutes or so passed without much incident for either side. Cholsey’s  best chance of the half and possible the pivotal moment in the game was when a Cholsey striker pounced on a mix up in defence, rounded Luke in goal and with the goal gapping was unable to wrap his foot around it and it hit the side netting. 3 nil would have left Southbank with no way back but it wasn’t to be. An injury to Hightower after 60 saw Mitra replacing him and move to right midfield and Jason moving into Hightower’s position at the centre of the defence. From here on the Bank seemed more in the game, more first and second balls were won by the midfield group and Southbank clawed there way back into the game. A series of corners from Southbank and a snap shot Benji did not really give much idea of the drama which was about to unfold but in the space of 2 minutes, Southbank were level. With Holton now on to replace Bryce and Woodrow now playing in his third position on the left of midfield, the game opened up and a slide pass to Benji enabled the Bank to do something only one other team has done this year, score against Cholsey, Benji nicely clipping his shot past the on-rushing keeper. A well deserved goal for Benji who had toiled on the right in the first half and seemed to be having one of those games until that moment.  Within 2 minutes the game was level, with the Bank pressing Cholsey defence a simple back pass produced a ‘Paul Robinson’ moment on the unfortunate Cholsey keeper and the ball rolled into an empty net, Southbank were back level 2-2. The team couldn’t really believe it and without doubt the luck which eluded them in the first game returned as well as the belief that victory was possible. However, within 5 minutes disaster struck as the good work and good fortune appeared to have been wasted. A simple ball through the centre of the defence found Luke come but fail to collect and in the on-rush which followed, a cheeky header found its way into the back of Southbank’s net. Where now most players thought and rightly so but this team has players with passion and desire and would quit. Now playing an out and out 4-4-2 formation the game opened up, the Bank needed something and Cholsey although tiring were capable of killing the game. However, the goals Cholsey had conceded seemed to affect the players’ confidence to a certain degree and their composure especially defensively evaporated and the Bank with Hightower yelling on the sideslines continued to push. With the game in its dying embers, the ball broke down the left. Woodrow probably the man of the match for his continual effort during the game despite constant positional changes produced the moment of the season so far. Braking past the defence he arrived into the Cholsey penalty box on the left hand side and unleashed an unstoppable drive which broke Cholsey’s hearts and almost the net. Steve Woodrow has pace to burn and a left foot to die for and this was one of those moments and like Benji equally deserved the reward of the goal for his efforts. 3-3 and the Bank having clung on for parts of the game were now looking at a well deserved point. On reflection Cholsey may feel unjust in the result considering their first half effort but the game is over 90 minutes and goals count and with perhaps tougher opposition than Southbank to come this may be the warning they needed as a team, without doubt they are serious challengers but not unbeatable; hope springs eternal for the rest of the league.  For Southbank two poor defensive performances have seen them leak goals, defence isn’t just the goalie and the defenders but a team game and in the coming weeks this needs to be improved. However the team is still gelling and with the exception of the Wrightchoice game, Hightower can not ask for more from his players. As a team we have provided ourselves a platform upon which to build for the rest of the season, time will tell if we can produce the form necessary over the winter months, the potential is there it needs now to be realised.   Well done lads for the performance onto the next game.   Team: Howroyd, Haimes, Frade (Gull), Price (Mitra), Djakovic, Tully, Wagner, Woods, Bellman (Holton), Woordrow, Williams