EAST PECKHAM JUNIORS

6th March 2010 - Tonbridge Invicta Reserves 3 v 4 East Peckham Juniors

 

 

Starting Lineup

				Nichols
	Tom Revell		Scott		Ryder (1)		Tony Revell
	Howell		Lardner (1)		Dunn		Jagelman (1)
			Faulkner (1)		Jennings

Subs Used

Josh Reynolds > Tony Revell, Matt Bungay > Lewis Dunn

Report

After getting back to winning ways against Tunbridge Wells in their previous game, Juniors travelled to Tonbridge Invicta Reserves in a positive mood and with a strong squad, including the luxury of substitutes.

Juniors named an unchanged line-up from the previous week, meaning the work free Bungay and new signing Reynolds were on the bench.

Invicta looked to get a foothold in the game early on and forced Nichols to tip over a long range free kick in the opening couple of minutes.  It wasn’t long however before the home side take the lead, Juniors switched off and the ball into the box was converted by the on rushing Invicta front man.

This kicked the visitors into life and they soon took control of the game, playing some fine football but just unable to find the back of the net, then a major blow, against the run of play the hosts broke away and their flame haired front man held the ball up well before being brought down in the box by Ryder.  Dan Tuema stepped up to convert from spot kick, low to the keeper’s right, in off the inside of the post, taking his tally to 3 goals against Juniors this season.

Momentarily this knocked Juniors’ confidence, having played so well now finding themselves two goals down, but they didn’t stop battling and on the half hour mark they found themselves back in the game with a fine goal, a long looping cross from Faulkner on the right was met by the head of Jagelman from the edge of the penalty area and the ball found the far corner of the net.

As the half went on, Juniors continued to dominate the possession and were playing some excellent football but were unable to find a way to draw level, and it was in fact Invicta who almost extended their lead further when Tuema, running onto a lose ball 20 yards out hit a first time shot that Nichols had to beat away.

The half time whistle blew with Juniors unable to say anything negative about their performance, the only downside being the score, with the visitors keen to get back out and rectify the situation. Reynolds replaced Tony Revell and Bungay replaced Dunn.

Juniors went out but found that Invicta had clearly been told to show more at the break and came out looking much better than in the first period.

It didn’t take long for Juniors to begin to play their football again but they had to be wary of the threat that Invicta posed on the break.

Juniors looked the more likely to score but without creating any clear cut chances they were struggling to find the breakthrough. 

With around 20 minutes of the half gone, the home side extended their lead, a shot corner was driven into the box, and a clever run from the Invicta midfielder found him get to the ball just before his man and deflect it past the keeper and into the net.

Juniors pressure was at times relentless but again Invicta looked very dangerous on the counter attack.

The game was drawing to close with Juniors still 3-1 down with 10 minutes remaining, and the visitors found themselves a lifeline.  Invicta failed to clear the their lines, Ryder hit the ball goal wards, and Faulkner got the vital touch that took the ball past the keeper.

Invicta heads appeared to drop and with 3 minutes remaining, Juniors levelled proceedings, the ball again falling to Ryder in the box and porkball drove the ball into the back of the net with the aid of the far post.

Juniors were elated and Invicta clearly deflated, the visitors kept pressing and with around 1 minute of regulation time remaining the turnaround was complete, a deep ball into the box was met by Lardner on the volley with fantastic technique from distance and his shot flew into the net.  There’s bad tekkers, then there’s good tekkers but those were some serious tekkers!  The only thing that let down Juniors’ lead scorer was that his celebration left a little to be desired!

Invicta will no doubt feel that they had done enough to take something from the game but Juniors took all 3 points when they had looked like losing in a game they had deserved to win.

EPFC!

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Top Goalscorers

Player	Goals
Jason Lardner	12
Matt Jagelman	9
Brett Howell	8
Marc Faulkner	5
Liam Jennings	5

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