Match Reports
EASTON MONDAY MATCH RPEORT
The game started with our usual high tempo press from the first whistle,no sooner had we taken possession of the ball, it was quickly shifted across the pitch to Guy, who strode into some space before chipping a precisely weighted cross to Cummins who met it with a glancing header that took their diving keeper by surprise as it ruffled the net. Winning the ball back from the kick off and worked it out to the left wing where Lee rounded his marker and drove towards the SWAG box with nothing but the goal in his mind… his shot/cross caused enough mayhem between their defence and keeper to allow Cummins to reach the ball first and deftly dink it over the last man who was himself already falling back into their net as the ball crossed the line.
SWAG restarted with renewed vigour and their strikers began to get into the game for the first time. James was unfortunate to find himself looking at the back of their striker as he headed goalwards, but a last ditch tackle by Featherby snuffed out the danger to the relief of both EM centre backs.
Without our first choice keeper, all-rounder Alex accepted the brave task of manning our goal for this fixture and he played as if he was a true sweeper keeper for the four defenders in front of him. We closed out the first half with two more well taken goals; the first from Charlton, making a rare appearance down the left wing with a shot that burnt the keeper’s hands as it blew past him and rippled the net. Not to be outdone down the right flank, Godfrey collected the ball just inside the halfway line after a nice passing sequence between Guy and Manny, releasing him for a clean run in on goal – his thunderous strike from outside the box did pretty much the same thing, going through the goalkeeper on its way to the back of the net.
SWAG are a tidy outfit, with competent and experienced footballers throughout their squad and they managed to pull one back with a route one down the right (direct from their keeper!) which their striker did well to collect, then outmanoeuvre both our last man and Al. His finish from a tight angle was well taken. It is unfortunate to note that the competitive spirit in which the game was played began to turn a bit ugly with some overly aggressive tackles and unsportsmanlike language coming from an evidently exasperated SWAG team. Verbals aside, the aggression and anger coming from some of the SWAG players was unnecessary and did their team a disservice. You could tell they are used to playing at a good, commanding level and perhaps the surprise of going down by four goals after 45 minutes caused the red mist to creep up more than it should have. We are a team of mates who play this game because we love being able to continue to do so even as our bodies are starting to tell us to give it a rest. As a club, we believe the ethos of the league is important to uphold and we expect our opposition to share the same values, irrespective of the result. We wish SWAG good luck with the rest of their season.
