October

EDMONTON ROVERS FOOTBALL CLUB

MATCH REPORTS (Season 2008-2009)
OCTOBER

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PRE-SEASON	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY

Sunday 5th October 2008
Mercury Waltham Sunday League Division One Match at St. Margaretsbury F.C.
ST. MARGARETSBURY (SUNDAY)	0	EDMONTON ROVERS	5	HT 0-0
		Daley (52, 66 mins.), T.Brown (53, 55 mins.), Martin (81 mins.)
ST. MARGARETSBURY'S LINE-UP: Alan CLARK (GK); Mark ELLIOTT, Ronnie ELLIOTT, David APPLEYARD, Richard GREEN; Darren WOOD, Ian WHITE, Marc ANGELINI, 'JOBBER' ?; Gerry ADAMSON, Lee WEATHERHEAD *Sub.:* Gary ELDRIDGE (On for Wood 63 mins.)
EDMONTON ROVERS LINE-UP (with Marks out of 10): Darryl JOHNSON (GK) (6½); Terry MOORE (7½), Alan BARNARD (7), Stuart DORWARD (7); Tem ADIL (7½), Rob BROWN (8), Danny HAGAN (8), Steve COKELL (7½); Terry BROWN (8½); Conor Mc,GOVERN (8), Daniel DALEY (8) *Subs.:* Jamie MARTIN (On for Daley 66 mins.) (7½), Martin LOVEDAY (On for Dorward 79 mins.) (6½)
Referee: Michael BARRON	Weather Conditions: Constant Rain		Attendance: 10
Report (by Laurence Hughes): With a prize draw of a Second Round match at Home to our old rivals Percival at stake, we were determined to field a strong side for this League Senior Cup match and show St. Margaretsbury that we meant business this time following our below-par performance the previous week in a 2-1 defeat at the same venue in a Division One match. A squad of 16 'quality' players were therefore named by Manager Trevor Hughes, but as usual, that was down to just 13 come kick-off time on the morning of the match with Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo having to be left behind after mucking us about too much with his travelling arrangements in trying cadge lifts to get to the venue, while Scott Jenkins...not for the first time (and apparently it won't be the last either !?) ...was still asleep (with his phone on silent ?) when he was supposed to be picking up Paul Amico and driving straight to the ground. I also had Tem Adil texting me to ask if the game was still on (because it was raining for the first time in about four weeks) and Conor Mc,Govern texting me to ask where we were playing...or were these deliberate silly questions to wind me up ? Fortunately though, despite all of these 'scares', we still ended up fielding by far the strongest side we have put out so far this season with key players Mc,Govern, Stuart Dorward, Rob Brown, Danny Hagan & Steve Cokell all returning and with Jamie Martin having recovered from flu to be named as a substitute. St. Margaretsbury on the other hand were fielding a weaker side than the previous week with six regulars missing and with outfield player Alan Clark in goal, although all their players had played against us before in our regular meetings with them over the past few seasons, so it was not as if they were fielding a team of strangers who hardly knew each other...as has been the case with our line-ups so far this season. The players we had available this week also allowed Manager Hughes to revert back to the 3-4-1-2 formation that had been successful for us towards the end of last season when we went on a good run to escape relegation, so that saw Terry Brown play in the hole behind the front two (Daley & Mc,Govern) this time and we looked much better straight away as a result. Our passing and movement was also much sharper, maybe thanks to four of our starting line-up actually turning up to training during the week !?, and we almost scored a brilliant goal early on when virtually all of our players contributed to a lightening-fast one-touch passing move but Steve Cokell wasn't quite sharp enough to finish it off in the 6-yard box (having missed several matches in a row before this due to family commitments). Although we created some reasonable chances in the First Half though, we only managed to get in one decent effort on target, but St. Margaretsbury's stand-in keeper Alan Clark made a good save to tip Conor Mc,Govern's close range half-volley away for a corner. We did start going a bit stale as the half wore on though, but St. Margaretsbury didn't really look like scoring themselves and the first 45 minutes ended goal-less. The Second Half then started with Referee Michael Barron having to use one of our £5.00 training balls for the rest of the match as St. Margaretsbury's two match balls had both disappeared into the bushes along the far touchline, so that was a bit worrying as it looked unlikely that anyone would be able to score with that 'thing', while no doubt half our players would have had to leave to go to Spurs (v. Hull) or Sunday Roast with the in-laws if the game had gone into Extra-Time !? Indeed the first seven minutes of the Second Half saw us fail to trouble the St. Margaretsbury goal until Daniel Daley suddenly turned and beat a couple of defenders for pace and produced an excellent finish to put us 1-0 up, and we then dominated the game thereafter with everybody's heads visibly lifting. In fact we went 2-0 up just a minute later when Terry Brown drilled a low cross-shot into the far bottom corner from Conor Mc,Govern's through ball, then he added another just two minutes after that with a good close-range finish after another good run by Daley, so we were now suddenly 3-0 up in the space of four minutes and the game was over as a contest with some of St. Margaretsbury's players appearing to give up. That saw us get a fourth goal in the 66th minute when Daley ran onto a through ball from Danny Hagan to round keeper Clark and take his time to compose himself and dummy a defender before side-footing the ball in...this being a goal that showed how confident our players were now becoming. With the game already won, Daley was then given a rest by Manager Hughes to give another forward, Jamie Martin, a run-out, and he managed to get on the score sheet as well in the 81st minute to make it 5-0 with a low shot into the bottom corner from Terry Brown's through ball. In fact we could have even scored a few more as Conor Mc,Govern and Tem Adil both came close to increasing our lead, while at the other end, Darryl Johnson did not really have a serious save to make all match. Although Daniel Daley and Terry Brown were probably our two best players on the day, the return of first-choice central midfielders Rob Brown and Danny Hagan made a massive difference to our performance, while Tem Adil (playing on the right of midfield this time) had his best game for the club so far and Steve Cokell (playing on the left of midfield) also played better than might have been expected after a lengthy absence. All in all it was an excellent team performance and we even kept a clean sheet for the first time since a 3-0 win against Enfield Crusaders some 18 months ago. After this, how annoying is it that we do not have a match next week !?

Sunday 12th October 2008 .....NO MATCH ARRANGED
This was due to most teams in Division One (including ourselves) not having their Home pitches available, thereby leaving five teams without a game and kicking their heels in frustration. Even though Stuart Dorward (in Scotland) and Alan Barnard (in Portsmouth) would have been unavailable, we still would have preferred to play a match on this date....and the weather was perfect !

Sunday 19th October 2008
London F.A. Sunday Intermediate Cup Second Round Match at Riverside Lands, Dukes Meadows, Chiswick
OLYMPIA	3	EDMONTON ROVERS	2	HT 2-0
'DeRose (4 mins), Hunte (32 mins.), Denniston (81 mins.)		T.Brown (64 mins.), Hunte (Own Goal) (84 mins.)
OLYMPIA'S LINE-UP: Emeku IZUNDU (GK); Dean FOY, Sacha CLARKE, Dale HAYNES, Dean GIBSON; Lance HUNTE, Spencer DENNISTON, Paul ALLEN, Mykel MORTLOCK; Luke HAYNES, Reice DeROSE *Subs.:* Rory WILSON (On for L.Haynes 61 mins.), Peter HUGGARD (On for Allen 63 mins.)
EDMONTON ROVERS LINE-UP (with Marks out of 10): Darryl JOHNSON (GK) (6½); Terry MOORE (6), Alan BARNARD (5), Paul WOOLSTON (5); Tem ADIL (5½), Rob BROWN (6½), Stuart DORWARD (6½), Steve COKELL (5); Terry BROWN (6½); Jamie MARTIN (5½), Daniel DALEY (6½) *Subs.:* Vernon 'Kizza' NXUMALO (On for Martin 23 mins.) (6½), Tony KING (On for Adil 37 mins.) (5½), Martin LOVEDAY (Not Used)
Referee: Leonid RAIHMAN (Hungary)	Weather Conditions: Light Rain, then mainly sunny		Attendance: 14
Report (by Laurence Hughes): Despite the long journey to Chiswick and it being a difficult venue to find, we still managed to field a squad of 14 good players for this match who all turned up in good time for the kick-off. That was quite a feat when in previous seasons when we have had to travel vast distances in the London Cup competitions, we have invariably fielded a bare eleven with numerous key players missing, and with us knowing in advance that Dukes Meadows was even worse than Enfield Playing Fields in terms of long walks from the changing rooms to whatever pitch we were on, it was quite surprising that we did not have to contend with a load of feeble excuses from players wanting to drop out. Undoubtedly a 5-0 win in our last match two weeks ago helped ! This time, the only first-choice players absent were Conor Mc,Govern (working in Birmingham) and the injury-jinxed Danny Hagan, who had severely damaged an ankle falling down a pot-hole as soon as he got out of his car at training in midweek...thereby forcing us to cancel the session because it left us with only four players there ! With our opponents Olympia (from the Senior Amateur Reserve Division of the Sportsmans Sunday League in South-West London) having lost both of their matches played so far this season, we were therefore in a positive frame of mind when we stepped onto the pitch, but when the whistle went, it soon became apparent that we had a number of players in our line-up who had played the day before and celebrated their victories too much afterwards or had been to all-night parties. That saw Olympia take the lead after just four minutes when their big centre forward Reice DeRose (who towered over the rest of our players) headed in a perfect cross from Luke Haynes after a good quick move. The rest of the First Half was then fairly even as Olympia competed for every ball and made it difficult for us on a hard pitch which was wet on top after a light shower which had not been in the weather forecast. Yet another match where I had to put the rain mac on the camera ! Their second goal in the 32nd minute was highly fortunate though, as Hunte drilled a right-wing cross into the far top corner over Darryl Johnson's head. That was how it stayed until Half-Time, but we had played poorly in the First Half with several things going wrong for us...firstly with forward Jamie Martin having to come off after just 23 minutes with a hip injury (which he had come into the match with after falling over when pissed on Friday night ?), then midfielder Tem Adil asking to come off after 37 minutes because he had only had one hour's sleep ! At least substitutes Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo and Tony King both seemed to be a bit more lively though, and that saw us get on top early in the Second Half as Olympia's players started tiring already. We really should have scored before we pulled a goal back in the 64th minute thanks to Terry Brown's deflected shot, but it was after that that we really squandered some great chances with Kizza and Stuart Dorward the biggest culprits, while Olympia's keeper Emeku Izundu made a number of half-decent saves, despite being a mixture of Rene Higuita and David James in the lookalike stakes as far as his style of goalkeeping was concerned. In fact when he came over after the match to ask for a DVD, Izundu claimed he was a 40-year-old Austrian and had played for Rapid Vienna ! No sign of that on Google Search of course. We were also getting frustrated by Hungarian Referee Leonid Raihman continually blowing for offside against our forwards when (because he Referees in the A.F.A. Leagues on Saturdays) he was not using Club Linesmen, although most of his decisions did seem to be correct. Daniel Daley didn't think so though, and ended up getting booked for dissent in the 79th minute. Our indiscipline then cost us just two minutes later when slack zonal marking from a corner (See picture left) allowed Olympia skipper Spencer Denniston a free header which he powered in to put them 3-1 up, but there was still time for us to create plenty more chances to send the game into Extra-Time or even win it in 90 minutes, but we only managed to take one of them when a good run and low cross from Kizza forced defender Sacha Clarke into an Own Goal in the 84th minute, so we therefore ended up losing 3-2 when a fairer reflection of the game would have been a 6-3 win to us on the number of clear-cut chances created, although we were extremely dodgy at the back and Olympia actually had far more shots on target than us. We did play much better in the Second Half, but Manager Trevor Hughes's initial Marks Out Of 10 were all low apart from Daniel Daley, who seemed to be the only one of our players in decent shape fitness-wise on the day, although he did go down with cramp towards the end. Even Rob and Terry Brown were well below par, while Stuart Dorward had to go home in his kit afterwards because he was 'too knackered' to climb up the stairs leading to the changing rooms...a 'boat-house' on the banks of the River Thames. Here was proof that just one week without a game and players continually not being able to attend training really does make a difference, as Olympia were nowhere near as good as teams we face in Division One of the Mercury Waltham Sunday League each week, and it was a real waste of a chance to progress in this competition for once, having been knocked out in the First Round by the eventual winners in four of the past five seasons. Olympia will not be joining that list though, as unbelievably they folded up before the next round was played...evidently due to continual defeats in their League following this match ! That just shows how poor we were !

Sunday 26th October 2008
Mercury Waltham Sunday League Division One Match at Hazelwood Sports Ground
EDMONTON ROVERS	2	BROXBOURNE RANGERS OLD BOYS	2	HT 1-1
Mc,Govern (41, 48 mins.)		Hockley (39 mins.), Mercer (79 mins.)
EDMONTON ROVERS LINE-UP (with Marks out of 10): Darryl JOHNSON (GK) (7); Stuart DORWARD (7), Alan BARNARD (7½), Jim ARROWSMITH (7); Tony KING (6½), Tem ADIL (6½), Terry BROWN (6½), Steve COKELL (6½); Vernon 'Kizza' NXUMALO (7½); Conor Mc,GOVERN (7½), Daniel DALEY (7½) Subs.: Foysol AHMED (On for Adil 82 mins.) (6), Martin LOVEDAY (Not Used)
BROXBOURNE RANGERS OLD BOYS LINE-UP: Graham WIGGS (GK); Dave MILSON, Adam SMITH, Mark WILLIAMSON, Glen BASTICK; Jim THORN, Adam GARRETT, Danny ROE, Tom MERCER; Alan GREEN, John HOCKLEY *Subs.:* Jamie DIXON (On at Half-Time for Roe), Ian NOTTAGE (Not Used), Paul ISHAM (Not Used)
Referee: Dave STEVENSON	Weather Conditions: Constant Rain		Attendance: 14
Report (by Laurence Hughes): This was our first match at Hazelwood for nearly a month, but as usual at this time of year the pitch was in superb condition, especially after a few hours of overnight rain to soften it up a bit, and although it continued to hammer down throughout the game, not once did the ball stick in any puddles, so for the players (but not the spectators), everything was perfect. It therefore makes me wonder why some of our players choose to do other things instead of playing at Hazelwood...like go to West Ham v. Arsenal early for a 'piss-up' (Rob Brown), work (Danny Green) and sit at home doing nothing because they think they won't get a game (numerous others). That was the situation for this match, but our biggest problem was being crippled by injuries, as was the case for most of last season. This time we were without first-choice players Terry Moore (Fractured Hand) and Danny Hagan (Ankle), while others such as Scott Jenkins (Knee), Paul Amico (Back), Jamie Martin (Hip), Josh Duberry (Back), Kris Spyrou (Knee ?) and Clark Williams (Foot) were also unavailable when they would have been in contention for a place in the starting line-up. In addition to that, we also had Paul Woolston, Aron White, Tony Speller and Greg Cummins (who had turned up to training in midweek) all unavailable due to family commitments, so once again we were fielding yet another 'makeshift' side with only one fit substitute (Foysol Ahmed) and players playing who had never met each other before. One of those was experienced defender Jim Arrowsmith, who had been allowed off the leash to play a rare game, and although he had to play in a back three instead of his usual left-back position in a back four, the presence alongside him of his good mate Alan Barnard and skipper Stuart Dorward meant we were reasonably strong defensively for most of the game. The problem was in midfield though, as the absence of first-choice central pairing Rob Brown and Danny Hagan always meant we would struggle to be as creative as normal, and the quartet for this game (Tony King, Tem Adil, Terry Brown and Steve Cokell) therefore just had to do their best and concentrate on defensive work when most of them prefer to play in more advanced positions. With Broxbourne Rangers Old Boys having beaten a top side from the Stevenage Sunday League 3-0 in the Hertfordshire F.A. Sunday Intermediate Cup the previous week and turning up with what appeared to be a full-strength side, we therefore spent most of the First Half defending and hitting them on the break, but with Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo playing in the hole between a front two of Conor Mc,Govern and the in-form Daniel Daley, we had players well-suited in attack for that, despite those three actually playing really poorly against Broxbourne Rangers Old Boys the previous season in a 3-2 defeat at Hazelwood when they all played in exactly the same positions. It was Broxbourne Rangers Old Boys who really should have taken the lead from the first clear-cut chance of the match in the 35th minute though, when Darryl Johnson made a good save to tip a looping header from midfielder Jim Thorn onto the crossbar, but forward Alan Green somehow blasted the rebound over the cowshed from about 6 inches...this being a classic for an 'Amateur Football Bloopers' DVD I am planning which will make me 'millions' in a few years time !? (Cheers mate). That was completely out of character for him against us though, as in recent seasons Broxbourne Rangers Old Boys have become a real jinx jinx team for us, even though we both usually end up in mid-table every season. In fact we had only beaten them once in our last nine meetings before this match with Green scoring in most of those encounters, and it therefore looked ominous when John Hockley (another experienced campaigner who has been the scourge of our defence for a number of years) put them ahead just four minutes later with an easy finish at the far post after Green did well to hook the ball across to him when it looked as if a long free-kick would drift out of play. At that stage it looked as if we would almost certainly slump to another defeat, but our luck suddenly changed in the 41st minute when Darryl Johnson's drop kick sailed over the Rangers defence to Conor Mc,Govern, who then took advantage of an untimely slip by keeper Graham Wiggs to equalise with a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. That gave us a lot of confidence and Daniel Daley almost gave us the lead just two minutes later when his shot rebounded off the post after one of his typical mazy runs, but then Rangers' Tom Mercer also hit the post for them just before Half-Time with a long-range effort, so a 1-1 scoreline at the break was just about a fair reflection of the first 45 minutes. With a lot of players having to play out of position though, a few things needed to be sorted out tactically at Half-Time and we played much better in the Second Half as a result, especially after Conor Mc,Govern broke the All-Time Club Goalscoring Record (as opposed to the All-Time First Team Record) with his second goal of the match to put us 2-1 up three minutes after the break...a 'rasping' first-time angled drive from Stuart Dorward's headed knock-down that flew past keeper Wiggs into the far corner. We then created a number of good chances after that with Daley and 'Kizza' causing the Rangers defence numerous problems with their pace and ability to run at players, although we were fortunate that one of Rangers' better players in midfielder Danny Roe had left at Half-Time to go to Spurs v. Bolton and his replacement, veteran defender Jamie Dixon, was almost as slow as our regular defenders who were not playing in this game ! Despite his slip for our first goal though, Rangers' No.1 Graham Wiggs was once again proving to be one of the League's better keepers with a number of fine saves, although Darryl Johnson was also kept busy at the other end with some good stops as Rangers started hitting us on the break. Unfortunately though, D.J. went and injured his ankle when he landed awkwardly in the 77th minute, but although we had a highly capable replacement for him in Martin Loveday available as a substitute, D.J. decided to play on after treatment. Whether that was the right decision or not was a major talking point down the Pub afterwards though, as Tom Mercer made it 2-2 just a couple of minutes later with a low shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards which some thought D.J. would have saved had he not been 'injured', although others said it was a well-placed shot and he had 'no chance'...and one or two thought he would have let it in whether he had been injured or not because getting down low and quickly enough to save shots is not his strong point anyway. However, midfielder Tony King was probably the main one to blame for us not picking up all three points as he missed an absolute sitter with the last kick of the match by blazing a first-time shot over the bar from 6 yards to ruin a brilliant move, but a 2-2 draw was probably a fair result and we can't really complain. Bearing in mind our appalling record against Broxbourne Rangers Old Boys and the number of good players we were missing though, we were reasonably satisfied afterwards and it looks as if things are gradually moving in the right direction.