After a long and emotional pre-season, the new campaign
finally got underway on a warm, sunny September morning at our new home –
Aveley Fireman’s Club. The move away
from Blackshots has, in theory, a lot of positives: The Ship Inn and Kev and
Drew’s warm welcome is only a stone’s throw way; we don’t have to put up the
goals and nets (I know, like me you feel it’s just not the same); we have
somewhere we can train (albeit in the dark) and there is no way Eye-Ball can
head the ball into Thurrock Harriers from there. They have tried to spoil it a little bit by
charging people to park under the disguise of offering you £2 off a delight of
your choice in their club house – Foggy says don’t touch the pies – and they
want to fine Sharpy for shedding the slightest flake of dandruff, but then I
suppose nowhere is perfect.
The ground is not the only thing that has changed; we also
have a new name: Aveley Academicals.
Unfortunately the league saw through our ploy to get round the sponsor
embargo by name ourselves TSI Aveley – they’re not quite as stupid as they look. Although not a popular choice, I think it
will grow on us, and I can hear the cries of “COME ON YOU ACCIES” ringing
around Tilbury Football Club as we add the League Cup to our League and Essex
Cup triumphs – a man’s got to dream.
Also, by a strange twist of fate we are not the only Academicals in the
amateur leagues. I stumbled across
Farlington Academicals, who are based in Portsmouth – a part of the world very
close to the Gaffer’s heart. OK, so
you’re still not convinced, but it’s the best I've got.
Sharpy and others have also been trying really hard to
recruit some new players to strengthen the squad. By the end of last season we were really
struggling to get a side out, but apart from injuries that are keeping Webby
and Alex out, and the sad departure of player’s player of the season Ryan
Kenyon (or so we thought – watch this space), the core of the squad has stayed
together. I wasn't sure about Sharpy's
scouting approach, but it turns out you can find some decent footballers in the
local boozer. Of those who have come
over James is the one who has shown the most promise and greatest level of
commitment, and his pace and determination have made him a great addition to
the squad.
Also making their competitive debuts in the starting eleven
were Andrew: a young, likeable keeper who has fitted in like a glove (or two)
and Mark Chapman, who it is arguably our biggest catch of the close
season. In fact TACA are still flapping
around in the shallows, trying to reel in the broken line that allowed Chappers
to wash up on our shores. Mark is
probably one of the only centre backs in the Thurrock Sunday League who is
feared and respected as much as our own Robin Lawrence, and now they are both
in our team! There are going to be a few
strikers begging to play at left back after their first encounter with this
pair.
Subs: Scott, Alex B
We knew the importance of getting out of the blocks quickly,
and we did just that, as it was Thameside displaying most of the first game
nerves. They looked shaky at the back
and nervous in possession, which encouraged us to put them under pressure and
force the mistakes. There is no doubt
that many in a red shirt would have been feeling some nerves as well, but these
were eased when we took an early lead when a free kick was awarded by our old
friend Glenn Webb about 35 yards out.
Jake lifted the ball invitingly into the box where it was attacked by
Rob. The Thameside defence managed to
clear the ball, but only in the air and as far as the edge of the eighteen yard
box where Dale had time to set himself and hit the ball low on the volley into
the bottom corner of the net. This
lifted our spirits no end, as not only had we taken the lead, but we now knew
that our main source of goals had his shooting boots freshly sharpened and
ready for the kill: 1-0.
The Accies weren’t about to sit back on a one goal lead, and
we continued to pile on the pressure, with our two turbo charged whippets –
Luke and James – motoring down the right (sometimes both at the same time,
which gave Sharpy heart palpitations)
and drawing defenders to give Dale the opportunity to exploit the space
down the channels. The chances started
to come thick and fast, but Dale couldn’t add to his early season opener and
Foggy could only look on in disbelief when his bullet header produced a
remarkable save from Thameside’s keeper.
Our perseverance did finally pay off when the very same
goalkeeper and his defence made a mess of clearing the ball in the six yard
box, and Luke reacted quickest to poke the ball into the net: 2-0.
Aveley lost their way towards the end of the first half with
the passing and general concentration leaving Sharpy scratching his head and
wondering what had happened to the team that had been so dominant in the
opening 20 minutes. Despite this,
Andrew’s goal was very rarely challenged as Chappers displayed his qualities
both in leading the defence and reading the game to snuff out any slim chance
there was of Thameside breaking through our lines.
The one area in which Thameside had an obvious advantage was
height, and we were far too sloppy in giving away free kicks which would enable
them to exploit this. One such free kick
resulted in a strong header finding the corner of our net, and meaning we only
went into half time with a slender 2-1 lead.
The half time discussion was as passionate as the oranges
were sweet. But comments were generally
constructive, and we went out in the second half with the aim of playing the
ball on the floor more, and getting Jake and Foggy on the ball more so that
they could feed H and Dale.
Despite showing immediate improvements, we once again
committed the cardinal sin of giving away a free kick on the edge of our box, and
Thameside again overpowered us in the air to squeeze the ball in at the back
post: 2-2.
Things could have got worse if Andrew hadn’t come out to
bravely bring an end their striker’s progress, and our new number 1 was then
instrumental in giving us the lead. One
of Andrew’s biggest strengths is his kicking from the ground, and he picked up
the first assist of the season with a ball forward from a goal kick which
caught Thameside’s defence napping. Dale
raced clear, and smashed the ball into the net off the far post from a
difficult angle: 3-2.
Not long after, the feat was almost repeated, but this time
Dale’s effort from Andrew’s kick came back of the post, where the ball was
given a warm welcome by Liam, who calmly nodded the ball past the despairing
keeping and into the roof of the net: 4-2.
With our two goal lead restored we could relax a little and
start to enjoy ourselves. Sharpy also
gave two more players their debuts. For
Al Blake it was actually his second, as he had been a popular and promising
member of the 2011/12 double winning squad. Back then he caused havoc on the
wing and through the middle with his youthful energy and enthusiasm, and I
actually remember writing that the holding midfielder role wasn’t one that came
naturally to him. How time, a growth
spurt that still doesn’t seem to have ended, and no small amount of alcohol can
change things. He’s now more Big Bird
and less ostrich, but boy can he defend and win a header. A calm head on young shoulders who will give
us a great option both in midfield and defence.
"And Betty when you call me, you can call me Al"
We know a lot less about Scott – or was it Rhys? No, it was
Ryan. Whoever he is, he definitely looks
at home on a football pitch, and much like Blakely looks like someone who isn’t
going to panic on the ball and will help us develop into the footballing side
we know we can be.
We were completely on top by this point, with our midfield
three of Foggy, Jake and H now bossing things.
The joke is that a heat map of Jake’s movement would be a red dot on the
centre circle, but the weekly training session seems to be paying off, and the
ground was scorched from left to right and box to box. The opposition’s frustration was starting to
show, and some of our players were on the receiving end of some nasty
challenges, including James and Chappers.
The latter was scythed down whilst on one of his trademark marauding
runs and was left with an ankle that looked like it had been caught in a bait
trap (possible set by TACA’s manager). There
was talk of returning the favours next week when we meet Thameside again, but
perhaps just make sure it isn’t within range of our box boys.
We might not have managed any more goals, but we came close
to doing so with Luke smashing the ball against the post from 25 yards with a
sweet right foot shot. Dale and H also
both had chances which ended up being the two front-runners for DoTD (what does
that tell you!). I’m not quite sure what
Dale was attempting with his free kick, but the one strip of freshly mowed
grass 10 metres from the goal tells you he didn’t quite get the desired lift or
curl. At least Dale was 20 yards from
the goal; H was only 5 yards out when the ball came across to him in the
middle. The keeper was rooted to the
spot, and H didn’t seem to want to risk hurting him, as he caressed the
bouncing ball gently into his grateful grasp and in doing so gaining an early
lead in the defence of his DoTS title.
Despite his 17 goals and 13 assists last season, Dale only
managed one MoTM award (which I think just shows how highly we rate him, that
banging in a goal a game is nothing extraordinary), however he deserved his
award this week for being involved in all our goals, chasing everything and
leading the team from the front even when it wasn’t going our way.
It was refreshing that, despite winning, we still felt we
could have done better. It shows we are ambitious, and although we want to win,
we want to win playing as well as we know we can. Last season was hard – this is actually our
first league win since 28th February 2015 – but we got through it,
and hopefully we have enough committed players who want to give their all for
the team to make this an even more successful year.
Eye-Ball
Next game: Sunday 27th September - Away v Thameside @ The Billet
Goal scoring chart
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