7-0 win vs Epping Eastwood

Scorers: Westy 3, Jumbi, Jono, Westy, Dan

How do you follow up a 6-0 win? With a 7-0 win of course! To be fair though, the Epping lads were understrength, where as we had subs to spare. That said, we slacked off considerably after three goals in the first twenty minutes. A double from Westy and a close finish from Owen after Roger’s forward run saw him shoot straight at the keeper from point blank. The second half was marginally better, but with lots of very debatable offside calls saw two goals (Jumbi and Klish) and numerous goal chances ruled out by a junior linesman, we pushed our advantage home more emphatically. Finally a goal for Jumbi, Westy completing his hattrick, Jono matching Westy’s earlier “yeah I’m crossing it – ah sorry it went in the goal”, and Dan near breaking the net from a penalty. A few more shots off the post, a lot more shots blasted down onto the basketball court from inside the 18yard box, and another relatively quiet afternoon for Adam, although he got involved with some fun tackles near the end. Credit to Epping for continuing to play for the whole game with lesser numbers, and to our boys now with nine different scorers so far, and 75% of the way to matching last year’s goals for. Top of the division!

2-1 win vs Putney

Scorers: Jesse, Westy

Right result but the scoreline could have been so much more. Out of Putney’s five or so chances in the game, the only one on target came from a confusing penalty. A perfect tackle outside the box on the breakaway forward saw the ball kicked away back up to halfway, but no, the ref adjudged it to be a penalty, despite the fresh new skid marks around a meter outside the box. New goal keeper Adam therefore was unlucky to concede the resultant penalty, but it was the most action he would see for the rest of the game as our defence was impressive throughout. Continued pressure saw Jesse slot away an equaliser before halftime, and as we camped out in their half in the second period, it seemed a matter of when, not if, we would take the lead. Eventually this came from new forward Westy, smashing the ball home, as pretty much every player in a midfield or forward role for us had a chance to get a shot in. Credit to our players for staying calm throughout the game and not letting the setbacks drop our heads. Special mention to the defence for a near perfect game, Dan and Jesse for putting in a solid 90 minutes each, and to Klish for the best performance giving his marker nightmares down the flank. A few more goals would have been nice, but that is what happens when you haven’t had any shooting practice yet this year.