SUN11 MARCH 07
SHIRE ‘B’ 0
FRY CLUB COLTS 3
The first
meeting this season brought together an important match for us as this was the
last game until our final run in of 4 games in 11 days at the end of April.
Against the wind
and on a very bumpy dry pitch we started very strongly pushing the Shire defence back at every opportunity. Brad Monelle
had an early chance but it was good team play after 7 minutes that gave us the
lead. From pushing their team back into their half, Kyle Curtis won a brave
header to Brad Monelle whose flick fell straight into
the path of Dean Lapham whose control and volley shot
beat the keeper into the top right corner of the net to put us 1- 0 up. A great
start and one we were not going to give up. With all 15 players available
today, it was a tough decision who to start and who to leave on the bench.
Nobody let us down as every half chance was cancelled out by all of our players
who were playing very determined. In particular Dean Lapham
was playing full of confidence and both Oli’s in
central midfield, Randall and Murray, supporting the front pairing of Craig
Andrews and Brad Monelle. After 23 minutes we doubled
our score. From open play, Brad Monelle picked the
ball up on the left side and cut in the unleash a
superb shot which cannoned off the inside of the near post. With the keeper
beat, Dean Lapham coolly struck the ball with
his left foot and guided it into the empty net to put us 2 – 0 up. Within a
minute it was 3-0 as Brad Monelles’ fierce cross from
the right side was deflected over the keeper into the net. By now we were
dominating the play and both Brad and Craig Andrews drew further shots onto the
Shire net only to be denied by some bad luck. Jordan Knight was also unlucky as
the Shire keeper pulled off a great fingertip save to
deny a 4th goal. At half time Shire were lucky to be only 3 – 0 down
as our first half play was excellent.
It was agreed
during the break that our objective was not to concede
in the second half. With the wind in our favour we
threw on a third striker, Charlie Frampton and shuffled the team with fresh
legs. Mo Bouaziz came into Midfield and both Nathan Dawson
and Michael Payne slotted into defence. Although the
changes gave us a positive step forward, ultimately we never added to our
score. Not for the want of trying as Brad Monelle in
particular was very unlucky to see his great effort just miss the top left
corner. In defence, both James Hurrell
Smith and James Boulton were playing very well and when
Craig Francis in goal was forced to make a save, he did it soundly to keep his
goal intact. Unfortunately though, we just couldn’t find the net in the second
half, but then neither could Shire and we finished the game with a clean sheet
to earn another vital 3 points. With Longwell Green
only drawing today, we were now 6 points ahead, a great position to be in with
so few games left.
Undoubtedly
everyone played their part today to earn the victory. However, it was
especially pleasing that Dean Lapham played so well
and took his 2 goals even better which rewarded him with todays
Man of the Match award.
SQUAD: Craig Francis, Michael Payne,
James Boulton, Oli Murray,
Danny McCarthy, Mo Bouaziz, Dean Lapham,
Oli Randall (Capt), Bradley Monelle,
Kyle Curtis, Craig Andrews, Charlie Frampton, Nathan Dawson, Jordan Knight,
James Hurrell Smith