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MATCH REPORTS |
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Games played on: Sat 10th Apr 2010
| 1stXI v Bank of England 1st XI |
| Drew |
Score: 2-2 |
League |
Away |
| Scorers: Denver, Taylor |
Report: Another Saturday, another first team draw that's 5 in 6 games now! This however proved to be a hard earned point rather than 2 points dropped. We were slow to get into our stride during the opening period and the Bank deservedly took the lead after 20mins but as the half wore on we came more into the game and our efforts were rewarded when Matt Denver managed to squeeze his low shot into the corner when the chance looked to have gone. After the break we had our best spell, taking the game to the oppo with some slick football and gained the advantage through Matt Taylor's "slightly" mishit volley which deceived their keeper. With 15 mins left disaster struck, first Tom Codd sustained a hamstring injury and had to be replaced, much to the amusement of the rest of the players, by the manager! (our only named sub). Unfortunately whilst the aforementioned "sub" was preparing himself and acquainting himself with the new rules eg no tackling from behind, no "hacking" etc etc the Bank snatched an equaliser. The shock of partnering the new "sub" up front obviously proved too much for Raf Anthony and he had to depart with a knee injury soon after. That left us with 9 men and a "player" who made his 1st team debut 37 years ago! The final 5 mins were a bit frantic but we managed to hold on to a very well earned point displaying the determined spirit we have shown all season.
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| 2ndXI v South Bank Cuaco 2nd XI |
| Drew |
Score: 0-0 (Abandoned after 60 minutes) |
League |
Away |
| Scorers: |
Report: Match abandoned after 2 opposition players involved in a nasty collision, with 1 player going to hospital with a broken leg.
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| 3rdXI v Civil Service 3rd XI |
| Lost |
Score: 0-3 |
League |
Away |
| Scorers: |
Report: Quite simply this was a bad day at the office. The day got off to a bad start with players dropping out and the realisation that we would have the bare eleven for a tough away fixture against a strong Civil Service side.
We were on the back foot pretty much from kick off and it remained that way for the majority the first half. The home side looked fitter, sharper and made much better use of the big pitch, using the ball well to pull us all over the park.
We did keep the ball well on rare occasions, the problem was that it was mainly in our own half and too often we lost the ball cheaply when getting in to the final third.
It was no surprise that the home side were first to make the break through and no surprise that the goal came from sloppy play on our behalf. Losing possession on the halfway line we were never able to recover as the Service players raced towards our box. As Darren came out to close down one striker he simply squared the ball to his team mate who slotted home for a deserved lead.
We never really looked like causing much threat throughout the half and so it was important that we got to half time just the one goal down and we were probably a bit lucky to do so.
A change was needed and so we shifted formation to get two players up top and try and take the game to opposition. We certainly looked better for the opening stages of the second half and had some half decent chances to draw level, though frustratingly never really tested the keeper often enough.
The next goal was vital and it was Service who doubled their lead, with the goal really knocking the stuffing out of us.
The game went from bad to worse as red card and third goal for Service put the final rusty nail in our coffin, it was no more, and maybe a bit less, than the home side deserved. One to forget!
Man of the match: Ben McMullen
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| 4thXI v Broomfield 4th XI |
| Won |
Score: DOUBLE HEADER Won 1st game 5-1 and 2nd game 4-1 |
League |
Home |
| Scorers: Many...... |
Report: With only one point required to secure the league title from this double header the champagne had been optimistically "put on ice". The skippers optimism was borne out with comfortable wins in both games. The games themselves were pretty average affairs although there were some good finishes amongst the many goals scored. Thanks to Perry, Browny and Woodsy all of whom donned the keepers gloves at some point during the afternoon. Thanks to all concerned for their efforts throughout the season. Champions…….Champions…..
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| 5thXI v Southgate Olympic 6th XI |
| Won |
Score: 1-0 |
League |
Home |
| Scorers: Nwosu (Mike) |
Report: A very tight game this. Olympic probably didn't do themselves any favours by starting with only ten men, and we fashioned a few chances early on exploiting the space. Gary H went closest after being put through by Nick P, but only found the keeper. Mike N also had a good chance, but somehow totally missed the ball on the six-yard line. Olympic got their full compliment of players together before the end of the half, and stepped up a gear, putting us under pressure; but we defended well, Lee Hunt notably present in the middle of the park (and getting a kick in the head for his troubles from a high tackle; which - now confirmed by a visit to hospital - broke his jaw).
Goalless at half time, the match was finely balanced. The oppo put on a young lad to play in the middle of the park who had a great touch and a lot of speed, and for the first twenty minutes of the second half we were fully occupied trying to cope with him. It looked like he would prove to be the man to turn the match, but we knuckled down and sorted things out, showing good team character; Sam Payne making two or three good saves in goal. Last fifteen minutes saw the game swing more in our favour as it would appear the oppo had run out of ideas. The Nwosu brothers buzzed around the edge of their box, and it looked like they could make something happen for us. So it proved when Mike N scored three minutes from time. We held on to that lead through into injury time, with Russell Toone making a number of decisive challenges to snuff out the last oppo attacks.
Man of the match: Lee 'broken jaw' Hunt, a monster performance given he played most of the match through considerable pain.
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