The Aveley Academicals wagon had been building pace with 3
straight wins, but was in danger of being derailed due to a midweek
availability crisis, which led us to believe we would be going into the game
against Jacks Lads without Harry, Mo, Ryan, Scott, Jake and Luke. A three point banker against a side we had
comfortably beaten two weeks before was suddenly looking like a potential
banana skin. However, for once the gods
took mercy on Sharpy and delivered Harry, Luke and Jimmy to Belhus Park to
swing the odds back in our favour.
Subs: Luke, Sharpy
The one challenge we did still had to overcome was how to
avoid being blown away by the strong wind, which once again howled across
Belhus Park, whilst wearing the purple parachutes that we pass off as our away
kit. For the new boys this would have
been the first time they had this pleasure, and it was therefore quite a
coincidence that we should bump into someone who was very familiar with the
purple outfit in the shape of club legend Deano. Ironically he was going to be wearing red on
this particular day, and although it is great to see him back in the Sunday
league fold, it’s a shame it is representing old rivals Linford Wanderers
rather than Aveley.
Foggy won the toss, and Aveley set about making best use of
the wind advantage in the first half.
With Ryan missing, Jimmy’s return couldn’t have been better timed as he
slotted into the number 10 role like a glove and was a key figure in helping
the Accies pretty much win the game in the first 45 minutes. Jimmy got the scoring underway himself when
he latched onto Dale’s flick on from Foggy’s clearance, and just got a toe to
the ball ahead of the defender to lift it over the stranded keeper and into the
net: 0-1.
The second was created by James, who doesn’t let playing at
full back stop him from gallivanting further upfield. On one such foray he
lifted the ball to the back post where Dale finished on the second attempt with
something closer to a slide tackle (even rarer than a header) than a shot. Still, it just shows how hungry he is for
goals even if it means getting a little too friendly with the upright: 0-2.
We may have had a lot of changes in personnel (not to
mention a few new names) over the years, but one thing has never changed: this
team is a completely different beast when a couple of goals in the lead. Suddenly everyone wanted the ball; James was
racing down the right to receive sumptuous through balls from Nick and Harry
was popping up all over the place to win the ball and link up with Craig – his
newest partner in the centre. Brian and
Rob were taking no prisoners to win back the ball as soon as it came into our
half, and even Eye-Ball was venturing forward and playing neat one-twos with
Liam on the left. The third goal came
from Liam’s endeavours, as he harassed and dispossessed the defender before
playing the ball across to Dale who caressed it into the far corner with the
outside of his boot: 0-3.
Such are the expectations we place on Dale to get us goals,
that it hardly raised an eyebrow when he wrapped up a first half hat-trick when
Harry play the ball forward to Jimmy, who showed great vision as, with his back
to goal, he let the ball slide off the outside of his boot and carry on through
to Dale, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net: 0-4.
We didn’t have it all our own way in the first half, and if
it hadn’t been for goal line clearances from Robin and Eye-Ball we may have
gone into half time having undone a lot of our hard work. As it was, we did concede once as we got
caught on the break having committed too many men forward, and as the ball held
up in the wind when played into the box, the Jacks Lad winger reacted quickest
to divert the ball past Foggy and into the corner of the net: 1-4.
The half time orders were pretty much to keep doing what we
were doing, and with Luke making a straight swap for Eye-Ball there was no
reason to believe the second half would be any different from the first – apart
from the fact that defending was going to be a little more challenging kicking
against the wind.
In almost every way in the second half, we were the football
team Sharpy so badly wants us to be. We
played the ball out of defence, provided multiple options to the man with the
ball, pressed our opponents to win back possession, and looked to keep hold of
the ball instead of hoofing it long at the first opportunity. With Luke on we now had two fullbacks who
love to get forward, so it was no surprise that the second half approach seemed
to be attack, attack, attack. However,
through no lack of effort or chances, all we missed were further goals.
The keeper got revenge on Dale with a hat-trick of his own
in the second half, as he denied Dale adding further to his goal tally on at
least three occasions. Still the fact
that we were creating the chances is as good as scoring them from the team’s
point of view. However, I’m sure Sharpy
would have loved to be able to claim the assist for the goal that should have
been scored as a result of his perfect through ball. Before you ask, this wasn’t played from
amongst the kit bags, he’d actually brought himself on for a rare cameo
performance in place of Craig.
When we played Jacks Lads two weeks ago, Harry scored a
worldy to give us the lead, and very nearly repeated the feat as he laced the
bouncing ball towards goal from 35 yards.
Despite the wind’s best efforts, it wouldn’t dipped enough to creep
under the bar, and instead rebounded off the wood work to safety.
MoTM was well contested again, with Dale obviously getting a
number of votes for yet another hat-trick.
However, this time it rightfully went to one of the unsung heroes of the
team. Brian quietly goes about his
business, but hardly ever puts a foot wrong – and it’s even rarer that he loses
out in a tackle. He was the focal point
of our defence on this occasion, and often the player who was driving us
forward as he anchored the midfield in addition to undertaking his centre back
duties.
Whilst we were caught up in the euphoria of our fourth
straight win, no DoTD nominations were obvious.
However once we got to the pub a few emerged, including Nick forgetting
we were playing in purple as (from a throw in ) he sent the ball in the
direction of a player in red with no one in our colours in the vicinity. He also received another nomination for
attempting to turn the defender, but only succeding in falling over and
conceding a free kick for hand ball.
Then some were brave enough to mention Foggy’s inability to account for
the wind as kick after kick flew off the pitch.
I think our skipper’s response was to highlight Dale’s multiple missed
chance in the second half (ouch!). Last but not least, there was Luke and James
drawing hand bags at dawn (what was that all about!). However, with no clear winner coming forward
Sharpy again “took one for the team.”
It’s hard to find an excuse this time, which makes you wonder why he
seems to want the coveted golden dick so bad…
Well done boys, and let’s make sure we approach next week in
exactly the same way.
Eye-Ball
Goal scoring chart
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