Line-up (4-4-2):
Barrasso, Moore, Rogers (Griffin, 55), Johnston, Eyre, Littlechild (Tejada, 70), N Newman, Murray, O’Toole, Cavanagh (Butt, 65), Kuczynski

A lacklustre performance from the boys in blue and red, who faced a sharper, fitter side in Brondesbury.

Unfortunately much of the intelligence received from Brondesbury’s past opponents proved incorrect on the day, with the NW London boys turning out different personnel and a different formation.

CPR started with 4-1-4-1, but when they realised Brondesbury were playing 4-4-2, with their right full back pushing up, switched to 3-5-2. The shape looked good for most of the first half, with CPR’s defence marking up well and Paul J or Donnie B sweeping effectively.

Brondesbury didn’t turn out to be as nasty as we were told, more in the mould of the energetic, tough tackling Royal Charlie. They did start the match with a penchant for two-footed tackles, but fortunately the ref started reaching for his card effectively snuffing this out.

There were however a couple of high, late tackles which left Jimbo and Donnie injured, but fortunately the lads soldiered on.

CPR were finding it hard to find a rhythm against Brondesbury’s pressing game. Stu and Paddy were getting forward well, but finding difficulty holding the ball up, and were frequently muscled off the ball before they could deliver a final pass. Nick was being forced to play deep to mark the oppo’s influential number 8.

The fact that CPR found them 1-0 down at the break was due to a stroke of bad luck. A cross came over from the left, which was missed by the cluster of bodies in the penalty area and fell to a Brondesbury striker well outside the area. Danny managed to half block his shot, but a cruel deflection sent it to the side of Donnie B.

After the break CPR looked brighter for a while. But the defence was now facing a new tall number 9, with both pace and guile. A last ditch tackle by Danny, led to a recurrence of the skipper’s groin injury, bringing another veteran defender Garry into the fray.

CPR were finding themselves increasingly overrun as the ginger number 8 began to push forward more. He hit a speculative shot from the edge of the area, which somehow floated above Donnie into the top right corner of the net.

This was a body blow, with some CPR heads starting to slump. Saif came on for Paddy and along with Stu, who was increasingly forced to drift out to the wing, began making some dangerous forays down the left flank. Saif nipped into the box on one occasion but his shot was smothered by the keeper.

With so little penetration into the oppo’s box, Nick was trying some speculative long-range shots which had the keeper mildy worried. Equally John O’Toole was beginning to threaten on the right flank, once beating two players, cutting inside and unleashing a strong low shot that went agonizingly wide.

But Brondesbury counter-attacked with their dangerous number 9, forcing Paul to bring him down on the edge of the area. As the CPR defence dithered over their wall, the striker hit an early free kick which Donnie failed to hold, a defender almost cleared, and then an oppo striker finished with vigour. Game over.

CPR have so far struggled to make the step up to the premier division, lacking sharpness, cohesion and confidence on the ball.

The priority must be to get a settled side, which can start playing more like the tight unit of last season.

Final score: CPR 0, Brondesbury Athletic 3

Match Reporter: Danny Rogers