Two Wonder Goals not enough for SSEES

Genius first half strikes from Goring and Griffiths are cancelled out in a weak SSEES second period, allowing SOAS to win a point.

Sometimes, beauty is achieved with a mere deft flick: a painter with his brush, for example. Or a conductor with his baton, perhaps. Or Alex Goring, with his right foot.

Through on goal, with a dexterous sweep of the outside of his boot, he expertly sends the ball spinning away from the desperate flailing arms of the SOAS keeper.

SSEES had scarcely finished celebrating before Andy Griffiths outdid him. 30 yards from goal, he outrageously bent a looping, swerving effort into the top corner of the net, and was swamped by the cheering bodies of his team-mates.

Two such strikes should have been enough to win any game. In a first half characterised by decent play from both sides, SOAS had fallen to moments of brilliance. SSEES's profligacy up front had meant that the fixture had been deadlocked until the end of the first half, with the solidity at the back that has come to be the Red Army's trademark denying their opposition a single shot on target.

SOAS, however, showed why they have won all bar one of their games this season, exploding into action in the second half. They started to be allowed the time and space to play balls forward from the back, something the SSEES defence struggled to deal with convincingly despite their large physical size. Play started to get scrappy, allowing SOAS to bombard the penalty area more and more as the half went on – in fact, two set pieces were smacked against the crossbar with the keeper stranded.

A goal was coming, and it finally arrived when one long ball fell to their winger – it took a presidential deflection on the way in, but SOAS were nevertheless back in the game.

They equalised when yet another ball into the area wasn't cleared, but, thankfully, SSEES started to play some football in response. By the closing minutes of the match, it looked more like the thee points would be coming home to Taviton Street yet again, with demigod wide man Myles Pyne going close before heartthrob Griffiths had a chance from a corner.

The game finished level, however – SSEES will be disappointed to have see their lead slip, but, given the strength of their opposition, they can count this as one point gained rather than two lost.