“We’re still not quite hitting the levels” was Sharpy’s
honest assessment of our performance against Jacks Lads, where we got the job
done but still didn’t show the ruthlessness to bury a team who we were far
better than.
The turn-out was good again, meaning that Sharpy could offer
a first start to Craig and keep Brian, Nick and Luke in reserve.
Subs: Luke, Brian,
Nick
It was a shaky start by two sides who would have been
wondering what to expect from each other, having not met in the league for a
number of years. However, the early
assessment was that our opposition were set up to defend, with one large but
cumbersome target man (even Rob was leaving him for dead) and three combative
but technically average central midfielders.
Their defence – marshalled by their own skipper-keeper – looked solid,
and to be fair Jacks Lad defended bravely and in numbers to keep clear cut
chances to a minimum.
On the flip side, we played far too much into the oppo’s
hands, by making too many elementary mistakes and being sloppy in
possession. The one ray of sunshine was
Craig, whose calm and seemingly relaxed demeanour masks a mischievous streak
and flamboyant flare which saw him evading sliding tackles with little faints,
and flicking the ball over bemused defenders.
He was also setting an example to the rest of us with his good touch and
accurate passing.
It was fitting therefore that Craig provided the assist to
give us the lead, when he collected the ball on the right following our corner
and played it across the pitch to Harry.
Fortunately Harry ignored the shouts from his skipper to “take a touch”
and instead magnificently curled the ball first time over the heads of all
those in the crowded area and into the top left corner. Surely this will be a contender for goal of
the season, but more importantly it provided the breakthrough which we were
finding so hard to come by: 1-0.
The second half was far better from Aveley’s point of view,
with Harry and Mo growing in confidence in the centre of midfield and starting
to demand the ball at every opportunity.
On most occasions they provided a short option for the defence and then
looked to bring Liam, Craig (then James) and Ryan into the game so they could
provide the link to Dale up front. We
may have only been one nil up, but with the bench being so strong it was no
issue for Sharpy to introduce Luke, Brian and Nick who replaced Craig, Robin
and Dale.
The only significant save I recall Foggy having to make in
the second half was when he got down well to push the ball away from just
inside his right hand post, but despite our dominance we still couldn’t find
the second goal that would put the game beyond doubt – which was making a
number of us nervous. We created a
number of chances, with Blakey’s header from Nick’s corner just lacking power,
Liam firing over after latching onto a loose ball in a crowded area and Harry
blasting wide from just outside the box – proving that lightning doesn’t strike
twice.
Sharpy is always banging on about us trying something
different from corners, and I’m sure he’ll therefore expect some credit for the
move which led to the second goal and allowed us to breathe a huge sigh of
relief as the three points were finally secured. With players waiting in the box for Nick to
deliver the corner, Luke raced forward to provide a short option which drew the
defence towards the ball. Luke’s deep
cross then found Ryan unmarked at the back post, and he calmly slotted the ball
home after the keeper blocked his initial header: 2-0.
With ten minutes to go, we definitely would have settled for
2-0, but it should definitely have been 3 when Ryan was put clean through and
unselfishly passed the ball across the goal, where Liam was on hand to smash
the ball into the goal. At least,
smashing it in would have been the foolproof option, but instead Liam flicked
the ball like it was a grizzly bear he was frightened might awake from a deep
sleep and bite his head off (that’s a simile rather than a metaphor), allowing
the keeper to get across and block the shot.
The ensuing scramble saw the keeper come up trumps as neither Liam nor
Ryan could get the ball across the line.
Liam was obviously gutted to miss out on such a golden opportunity to
increase his goal tally, and to rub salt into the wounds was overwhelmingly
awarded DoTD.
So the three points – and a clean sheet – were ours. Harry narrowly edged out Mo for MoTM thanks
to a fine performance (which was capped by a super goal) that was reminiscent
of when he so impressed following his move to the centre of midfield last
season. We know there are much tougher
tests ahead, but if the group of players who have been turning out for the last
few weeks can continue to be available surely we can only get better and
better.
Eye-Ball
Next game: Sunday 29th
November – Away @ Belhus Park v FC Deportivo Thurrock.
Goal scoring chart
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