15th March 2008 - Dowgate 0 - 3 East Peckham Juniors
Starting Lineup
Nichols |
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Tom Revell |
Meager |
Ryder |
Tony Revell |
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Scott |
Vince |
Lardner |
Blundell |
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Howell (3) |
Hayes |
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Substitutes Used
None.
Report
Juniors faced the trip to Dowgate with depleted numbers due to illness to Philpott, Jagelman and Parsons being unavailable and Jennings opting to rest a niggling injury. But knowing that if Valour failed to win and Juniors did win, they would return to the top of the table.
The returning Lardner slotted straight back into his usual central midfield position with Howell looking to make the most of his start in attack with Hayes. Scott took the armband.
Juniors started the stronger of the two teams, and within 10 minutes found themselves in front. A fine ball from the influential Lardner picked out Blundell on the left, he proceeded to dance past two players before squaring the ball into the box, where Howell showed Juniors just what he has to offer after controlling with one foot and finishing with the other giving the defence and opposition keeper no chance to react.
As the first half progressed, it was the home side who became more of a threat as Juniors were reduced to the occasional sporadic attack. Dowgate began to show themselves as a team deserving of a higher position in the league as they were able to break with pace, twice breaking through the Juniors defence before being thwarted one on one by Nichols.
The game moved towards halfway with the Juniors defence holding firm, and with Tom Revell linking well with Ollie Scott down the right hand side the Dowgate back line was beginning to once again look shaky. On numerous occasions Revell and Scott worked past the Dowgate left back with a series of neat passes, but to no avail as the balls into the middle were cleared.
With practically the last move of the first half, Juniors dealt what seemed to be the killer blow, again Lardner was involved as his vision picked out top scorer Hayes who this time turned provider and centered for Howell, with the 16 year old made no mistake, sending Juniors in at the break with a 2 goal advantage.
Credit to Dowgate, they came out after the break with their tails up and were pressurising Juniors from the off. As Lardner and Vince were dominating in the middle of the park the ref began giving more and more decisions in the direction of Dowgate. One such decision from a fair looking Vince challenge led to a free kick on the edge of the Juniors box. The Dowgate midfielder curled his kick low round the wall towards goal, seeing it late through a group of players Nichols managed to use his thigh to put the ball over the bar.
Dowgate continued to press, but the Juniors midfield held firm, and when Dowgate finally did break through, the back four of Ryder, Meager, Tom Revell, and Tony Revell were solid as ever.
The one occasion a Dowgate midfielder did break through he did not place his shot well enough and Nichols saved well with his leg at full stretch.
Throughout the half Blundell came into the game more and more, making a number of fine runs and hitting a number of long range shots, one such first time shot only inches over the bar. It was another such run by Blundell that led to the third and final goal within the last 15 minutes of the game, as he once again centred, and Howell was once again on hand to apply the finishing touch, and record his hat-trick, giving the management something to think about selection wise for the return fixture next week. EPFC!