It was vital that we take the lead to see how our opposition would react to going behind against ten men. Liam very nearly came up trumps when he broke through the defence, but his strike was well saved. It was inevitable that we would come under pressure at the other end, especially from corners. We survived a couple of near misses, and Conor put in the kind of assured performance that we needed.
We did deservedly take the lead when Dale dribbled into the box on the right before turning inside and hitting the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot. Some were claiming an own goal, but I think it would be harsh to deny Dale his 9th goal of the season: 0-1.
Trojans responded as we would have hoped; by pressing the self destruct button, as they became more interested in arguing with the ref and each other than playing football. In particular, one angry red head seemed hell bent on dealing out retribution to anyone who came within a couple of feet (and he wasn't wearing a purple shirt!)
Trojans' manager took the interesting tactical decision of weakening the side for the second half, and despite it still being a hard slog (especially for the guys in midfield) we were finding more time and space on the ball. We still had some hairy moments from set pieces that were conceded with far too much regularity, but we kept the lead and extended it when a corner was deflected by Rob into the path of Liam, who swiveled and slotted the ball into the bottom corner: 0-2.
The game was well and truly ended as a contest when Chris chipped a delightful ball over the nearest defender for Dale to run onto. He then finished in style, lifting the ball over the keeper into the far corner: 0-3. It was a nice way to start the Christmas celebrations that were due to continue in The Ship after the game, and the ten men of Clements deserved to let their hair down.
Eye-Ball
Goal scoring chart:
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