Aveley Academicals 7 - 2 Mossops

Whenever we win by such a large margin I’m inevitably asked by my dad, “What, didn’t the other team turn up?”  However dear reader, you shouldn’t let the score line fool you into thinking this game was a walk in the park.  We had to battle hard through the bitter cold, on a pitch which was better suited to mud wrestling than football (although we were fortunate to be one of the few games not called off), and against a good side who we have struggled against in the past.  The game developed in a very similar vein to our last match against West Thurrock: we scored early and never lost the lead despite being pegged back twice, and pulled away to make the three points safe in the second half.  Dale’s finishing continues to be quite extraordinary (apparently he is “hot” at the moment) as he made it back to back hat-tricks, and others in the team chipped in to take the majority of the opportunities we either created or were handed.  We could, and perhaps should have conceded a couple of late goals, but our opposition demonstrated the consequences of being wasteful in front of goal.  I’m sure Sharpy would agree that we still haven’t “hit the levels” that he is sure we can, but with Dale leading the line, and the way we are working for and with each other there is a real sense of belief running through the team that we can out-score anyone in this league.

After having to leave Craig out last time, Sharpy was facing another headache as 18 were expected to turn up for this game. In the end the pain was eased by two late drop outs, a hangover and a car that needed to be picked up from the garage.  This meant that despite naming 5 subs, Sharpy knew that he could give everyone who was willing and able to play a run out.  With the change to 3 in the middle of midfield, with Nick holding, having such a positive impact in the last match Sharpy decided to continue where we had left off.  This meant a start for Nick, with Craig replacing Liam on the right and Mo partnering Harry in the middle.

Subs: Jake, James, Liam, Scott, Blakey

With the pitch being so heavy, and the grass so long, both teams were always going to struggle to play a neat passing game.  Therefore, I think on this occasion the odd up and under could be tolerated, especially when it results in us taking the lead.  Nick intercepted the ball in our half and hoofed it high into the air.  Dale sensed an opportunity, got in behind the defender, and as the ball bounced and dropped he jumped, swivelled and lifted the ball over the stranded keeper and into the net all in one movement, for his first (but not last) outstanding goal of the game: 1-0.

We are getting quite used to Dale making goals out of nothing, but the opposition were stunned into a state of shock which only got worse when the other Kenyon showed that incredible volleys run in the family.  On this occasion Luke’s ball in was headed back across to the goal by the defender to where Ryan was waiting to volley the ball in off the post with the inside of his right boot: 2-0.

Mossops did also pose a threat in attack, and their striker caught us out with his pace to rush clean through the middle and slide the ball past Foggy: 2-1.

Every season Eye-Ball is languishing somewhere near the bottom of the goals and assists chart, as based on these metrics he contributes very little.  In fact you have to go back to the 15^th April 2012 for the last time he made a mark on the chart with an assist.  Ironically this was for winning a penalty, which was converted by the former self-proclaimed “top dog” Mr Iain Pitney.  This match therefore contained a momentous occasion, as Eye-Ball came away with the ball from a 50-50 challenge, advanced into the opposition half and, thankfully before the vertigo had set in, spotted Dale arcing a run off the last defender.  For once the feet were in the right configuration and facing in the necessary direction for Eye-Ball to be able to slide the ball through the gap which Dale had created.  Our current “top dog” still had a lot to do, but did more than enough as he shifted the ball left before blasting it left footed inside the keeper, off the far post and into the net.  It was yet another fantastic finish, which made for one very happy left back! 3-1.

Frustratingly we allowed some gloss to be taken off our superb goals again as we conceded a sloppy second, as we completely lost our shape at the back and left Foggy to be beaten one-on-one for the second time: 3-2.

Having given Mossops a sniff of wiping out our lead for the second time, we soon moved out of smelling distance again when Dale’s long throw into the box was met by Harry and about three defenders, the final touch which took the ball into the far corner of the net probably came off the defender, but Harry did get a touch and therefore had a big enough influence to claim the goal: 4-2.

The first half was definitely not our best of the season, but we still had a two goal margin, and as it turned out – just like against West Thurrock – this was just a warm up for the main act in half 2. 

It’s hard to say what was the biggest contributing factor to us being so dominant in the second half, but one thing which I think we really capitalised on was Mossops decision to go to three at the back, with five across the midfield.  This left big holes in the channels which Ryan and Liam (on for Craig) were exploiting to get forward and link up with Dale in attack.  I also think the superb cover that Nick was providing in front of the defence was key to our success (and made him a worthy MoTM), as he prowled from one touch line to the other, putting in tackles, cutting out through balls and giving simple balls to Harry and Mo, who were finding more and more space. 

Also, Mo came to life after a frustrating first half as he drove us forward and, along with H (and then his replacement Jake), went in search of the ball to make sure there was always an easy option for a pass.  We also looked a lot better defensively, with Foggy marshalling the back four from between the sticks and Rob and Brian cutting out any sniff of danger.  James then slotted in seamlessly for Luke, and just like his predecessor combined defensive duties with some incisive forward runs.  It’s therefore not really a surprise that we won second half convincingly 3-0 to continue our superb run which now stretches to 7 unbeaten.

So I suppose you want to hear about the goals?  Go on then!

The fifth was an Accies classic, and was beautiful in its simplicity.  Ryan swung in a corner from the left, and Rob stooped to head the ball into the net from 8 yards:  5-2.

Next up came a comical scene which almost ended up being the worst punchline to a joke ever: 

Q: “How many Kenyons does it take to put the ball in from 6 yards?”   

A: “Two.  One to reject the chance of an easy goal so he can pass it to the other for his hat-trick, who then decides to inspect the gift horse’s tonsils, leaving the first to scramble the ball over the line.” 6-2.

Whereas Dale had decided not to accept his brother’s charity, he was more than happy to take it from Mossop’s defenders, as one attempted to pass the ball to another but only put it into Dale’s path. He then finished calmly given all the time in the world to decide how to beat the keeper, and in doing so collect back-to-back hat-tricks (we’re quickly running out of match balls!): 7-2.

Scoring all these goals, and knowing the game was safe, was obviously a lot of fun.  But I think we were all glad when the referee blew the final whistle and we could retreat, with heads held high, to the relative warmth of the changing rooms and showers.  Nick was deservedly awarded MoTM, and DoTD took a week off (although Sharpy seems to think he had to take it).  This game really underlined what we can achieve as a squad, and let’s make sure we continue to show the same hunger and desire as we embark on what will hopefully be a long league cup run next week.

Eye-Ball

Goal scoring chart

West Thurrock 2 - 8 Aveley Academicals

2016 started with a bang, as Aveley extended their unbeaten run to 6 games with a comprehensive victory over a team we knew very little about.  Having said that, by the time we got to kick-off Sharpy knew their life story, thanks to the opposition manager chewing his ear off for half an hour about how many cup games they were winning, and how little chance they’d had to show everyone what they were made of since switching from the Essex Corinthian Premier Division.  Which goes to prove a number of things: with a kind draw you can easily win a few Essex Cup games; we could hold our own in the Essex Corinthian Premier Division; and regardless of all the talking and hype, football is eleven against eleven, and with Dale banging in goals for fun we should be able to outscore most teams if their defence is not top drawer.

Sharpy is a man who never seems to be happy.  He moans when he has to pull on his boots because we have so few players, and he moans when he has nearly a full squad to pick from.  OK, so that’s a little unfair, as the truth is that with 15 players he knows someone is going to be left out, which no one – especially Sharpy – likes to see.  On this occasion Craig was the unfortunate man to not get a run out, but the impact he has made since joining the club should be evidence enough that he won’t be in this position again anytime soon. 

The gaffa has obviously been tinkering with his formations over the Christmas break, and went for a starting eleven which most of us wouldn’t have picked, as Jake and Ryan traded places and Alex was rewarded for a good performance in the previous match with a start at left back.  Foggy is still trying desperately to find someone else to fill his big boots in goal, and even resorted to swapping shirts with club friend and former legend Connor.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t to be fooled and took his position in front of Ockendon’s back four rather than Aveley’s.

Subs: Eye-Ball, Mo, Nick, Craig

We may not have known much about West Thurrock, but within the opening minute (about 30 seconds actually) we learnt that their defence was fallible.  Dale raced down the right-hand side and put in what appeared to be a wasteful cross, given that there were three defenders in the box and no player in red.  However, Liam never gives up, and pounced on the loose touch of the defender before drilling an unstoppable shot past the keeper from 12 yards, for what is definitely one of the quickest goals in the club’s history: 0-1.

Thurrock started to find their feet, and it soon became apparent that their strength was pace in attack which they looked to exploit by feeding the ball through to their strikers at the earliest moment.  However, Brian soon showed them that this wouldn’t be a fool proof plan, as his speed and strength saw him snuff out the danger when he looked second best on more than one occasion.  When Brian wasn’t on hand, Foggy pulled of a great save with his legs to deny the striker.

The low overall quality from both sides was pretty much what you would expect given the long Christmas break and the fact that the pitch was a lumpy bog.  This didn’t mean Sharpy expected any less from his team, and even though we went two nil up when Ryan’s corner was cleared off the line by Rob (yes, really) and Jake leapt unchallenged to head home from 6 yards, the gaffa was still not happy with what he was seeing: 0-2.

The game changed for a shell shocked Thurrock when their midfielder hobbled off and their stocky striker moved back into midfield.  He started to pull the strings, and when he shrugged off Harry before putting his winger through on goal – who calmly slotted past Foggy – we knew we had a game on our hands: 1-2.

For the next 15 minutes we seemed to completely lose our heads, and were incapable of keeping the ball or keeping with the opposition.  Foggy was called into action again to save one-on-one from Thurrock’s right winger, before everyone was beaten to the ball from one of the numerous corners we conceded, and our lead had evaporated: 2-2.

Fortunately, Thurrock’s defence continued to leak.  Dale got goal-side of the defender whilst latching onto Jake’s ball, and although the push in the back may have been minimal it was still a blatant foul which knocked Dale off balance and onto the deck.  Our talisman picked himself up, and scored with ease from 12 yards:  2-3.

We created more good chances in the first half, including a tight offside decision against Liam after he blasted the ball into the net, and a ricochet off the underside of the bar.  However, Sharpy made it clear at half time that, despite leading, we were in danger of throwing away three points if we didn’t get our heads on the game, start opening our mouths, and begin to work hard to play like the team we know we are.  Two changes were made at half time, with Eye-Ball coming on in a straight swap for Alex, and Nick replacing Liam on the left wing.  Eye-Ball in particular made quite an impact as, within 10 seconds of the restart his first two touches saw the ball being lifted into the air and then over his own head and off for a throw-in, for what is definitely one of the quickest DoTD winning moments in the club’s history…

The first 10 minutes of the second half saw the Accies on the back foot, as Thurrock threw the kitchen sink at us.  Still, there was no way through, and one of the defining moments was when Foggy saved brilliantly from their striker, who then had the goal at this mercy but was denied as Rob threw his head in the way of the speeding bullet and flicked the ball over the bar.  The striker threw his hands up in the air and looked in astonishment at Rob, not because he thought there were hands involved, but because he couldn’t quite believe how the ball had not ended up in the net.  Which I suppose is an understandable reaction when you haven’t played against Robin Lawrence before.

With the defence under siege, Sharpy knew he had to put up a barrier, and that barrier came in the shape of Nick.  We changed to a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Ryan moving to the left and Mo replacing Jake.  The change in formation meant that we had a chance of winning back possession before the ball got through to the attackers, and could then exploit Thurrock’s exposed and shaky defence.   The effect was almost instantaneous, as Ryan – now much more of an attacking threat – broke into the box and played the ball over to the far post.  Dale didn’t seem favourite to score but, running away from goal he twisted and fired the ball low back across the keeper and into the net: 2-4.

This goal triggered an incredible 15 minutes in which everything Aveley – and in particular Dale – touched turned to goals.  Nick’s two assists may have been a little route one, but if it gets the job done then who cares!  Firstly, his high clearance caught the defence napping, and Dale completed an incredible third hat-trick of the season with a simply brilliant volley which took the ball over the stranded keeper’s head and into the back of the net: 2-5.

Nick and Dale weren’t finished yet, and this time Nick’s through ball was more deliberate but still relied on Dale anticipating that the defender would missed the ball.  Dale raced clear, and rounded the keeper to score into the empty net.  He later claimed that he had planned to play the ball back for his brother to score, but that the keeper more or less stepped aside, leaving him no choice but to score himself. I’m not quite sure Ryan was convinced: 2-6.

With the front players getting their fill of goals, it was time for our very own version of the chuckle brothers to get in on the act.  “To me”: Ryan’s free kick is parried by the keeper and Luke reacts quickest to head the ball in on the rebound.  “To you”:  this time Ryan drags his free kick to the left, where James is waiting on the post to redirect the ball into the net.  It really wasn’t Ryan’s day when it came to finding the back of the net, but I’m sure he is happy with the three assists: 2-8.

Overall the display may not have been vintage, but it’s hard to complain when you score eight goals against a side who definitely aren’t that bad.  Dale’s day got better as he collected his 4^th MoTM for the season to go with his four goals, and then to cap it off the turn out in the showers was superb, and Ryan asked me to put it in writing that he finally stretched his wings and flew from the soap dodging nest into the arms of his newly acquainted lathered lieutenants.

Next week we have a tough test against premiership side Staines, but if we work hard and make it hard to break us down, we know we have the fire power to maybe cause a shock.

Eye-Ball

Next game: Sunday 10^th January – Away @ Pegasus club v Staines United

Goal scoring chart