September

Sunday 14th September 2008

Mercury Waltham Sunday League Division One Match at Hazelwood Sports Ground

EDMONTON ROVERS
0
ABBEY YOUTH OLD BOYS
4

HT 0-2

        I.Brownjohn (18, 54 mins.),
     Harper (27 mins.),
     Hutton (90 mins.)

EDMONTON ROVERS LINE-UP (with Marks out of 10): Gavin STACEY (GK) (5½); Terry MOORE (6½), Alan BARNARD (6½), Paul WOOLSTON (6½); Paul AMICO (5½), Tem ADIL (6½), Danny HAGAN (6½), Tony KING (5); Scott JENKINS (5½); Greg CUMMINS (5), Danny GREEN (5) Subs.: Vernon 'Kizza' NXUMALO (On for Jenkins 54 mins.) (6), Josh DUBERRY (On for Hagan 74 mins.) (6), Tony SPELLER (On for Adil 74 mins.) (5½),Kris SPYROU (Not Used), Aron WHITE (Not Used)

ABBEY YOUTH OLD BOYS LINE-UP: Micky DUMOULIN (GK); Matty ATTARD, Gary BROWNJOHN, Joe HAGGER; Billy BROWNJOHN, Tom SCRIVEN, Rob HUTTON, David THEOBALD; Chris DUMOULIN; Ian BROWNJOHN, Chris HARPER Subs Used: Jason BARRETT, Rod ANDREWS

Referee:   Andy SMITH Weather Conditions: Warm & Sunny Attendance:   27

Report (by Laurence Hughes): With newly-promoted Abbey Youth Old Boys having beaten Northmet (Riverside) 4-0 in their first League match of the season the previous week (when we did not have a match) and also having convincingly beaten us 3-0 in a Pre-Season Friendly a year ago, we knew this was going to be a really difficult test for us with first-choice players such as Darryl Johnson, Stuart Dorward, Conor Mc,Govern and Rob Brown all unavailable and the likes of Steve Cokell, Martin Loveday, Daniel Daley, Clark Williams, Simon Jackson, Ozel Ozerman and new signings Terry Brown, Jamie Martin & James Whittick all missing as well.
However, such is the strength of our squad this season, we still managed to find 16 good players for this match who we thought might have been capable of nicking a point at least, but unfortunately that was not how things turned out.
Indeed at 10.00.a.m. it was the usual laid-back attitude with only two players (Terry Moore and Danny Hagan) at the venue...Terry being there early after helping me open up the changing rooms, put the nets up and fill in a massive hole left by Enfield Council on the cowshed end goal-line where they had literally moved the goalposts during the Summer and forgot to pull the old 'slot' out from the ground (which would have meant a certain serious injury for any back-peddling goalkeeper trying to tip the ball over the bar). We were therefore fearing the worst with Danny Green, Scott Jenkins and goalkeeper Gavin Stacey all having warned us that they would be coming to the match straight from an all-night party, but thankfully that didn't turn out to be the case and in fact both the Referee and our opponents turned up well after 10.00.a.m. as well as the rest of our players, presumably due to yet another serious accident at the A10/Church Street junction in Edmonton ? (The roads were all closed there when I came back that way after the match).
The game therefore kicked off 10 minutes late as Referee Andy Smith saw common sense and allowed both teams plenty of time to warm-up (unlike the last Referee we had against an Abbey Youth Old Boys side who fined us for being a minute late when we were caught up in an accident going to their ground !).
The perfect weather conditions saw a large crowd turning up to watch, although they were mainly Abbey supporters complete with deckchairs. At least Daniel Daley, Tim Beeden and a couple of Dads came along to support us though, with Daley even volunteering to act as Club Linesman in the Second Half. (I expect the absent Stuart Dorward and Conor Mc,Govern will now have collapsed in shock/horror after reading that !?).
Despite us having three new players in our starting line-up in Gavin Stacey, Paul Amico and Greg Cummins and a number of our other players not having met them before, we actually started off really well with some good passing and possession while looking solid and composed at the back. However, Abbey took the lead very much against the run of play in the 18th minute when their experienced ex-Bishop's Stortford forward Ian Brownjohn aimed a header from a free-kick towards goal from about 20 yards away but it still looped over Gavin Stacey and into the far corner...Gavin, like Ozel Ozerman, not really being tall enough to cope with 'freak' efforts like that. However, we continued to look the better side despite that and we managed to get in a few reasonable shots at goal and win a number of corners, but then we went and really shot ourselves in the foot when Abbey had a corner in the 27th minute which Tony King failed to clear on the edge of the area with a bad mis-kick which went straight to forward Chris Harper, who then sprinted past Terry Moore to drill a low shot under keeper Stacey.
We then tried to get back into the game and came close to doing so a few minutes later when Danny Green tapped a short free-kick to Paul Woolston who drilled a superbly struck low drive towards the bottom corner, but keeper Micky Dumoulin (who plays for Ryman League Premier Division side Harlow Town on Saturdays) got down to his right to make a brilliant save. After that though, it was downhill all the way for us as we realised that Abbey were very strong defensively, while their tails were up after seeing a save like that preserve their two-goal lead. Our heads then started to go down badly and we had two or three lucky escapes before Half-Time as Abbey's full-strength side took control.
Indeed it was difficult for Manager Trevor Hughes to be really positive at Half-Time as everybody knew that we really needed our best players (e.g. Stuart Dorward, Conor Mc,Govern and Rob Brown) to be playing against this sort of opposition. The Second Half therefore saw us fail to create a single worthwhile chance as Scott Jenkins (who had been our best player in Pre-Season) was being hampered by a rib injury he had received playing for Norsemen the day before and eventually had to be substituted, while forwards Danny Green and Greg Cummins were being outclassed by Abbey's excellent defenders, of whom at least two were current or former Ryman League players.
However, it was poor zonal marking from a corner that enabled Ian Brownjohn to make it 3-0 in the 54th minute with an unchallenged volley from 6 yards and we were lucky that Abbey didn't score a fourth until the last minute when midfielder Rob Hutton drilled a spectacular 20-yarder into the top corner after a number of our players all stood and ball-watched and were caught out of position. Abbey had numerous chances to double their tally in the Second Half and we really rode our luck at times, but maybe we could have put a bit more pressure on them if the fit and energetic Kris Spyrou had not hidden behind a tree somewhere behind the cowshed end goal when Manager Trevor Hughes was looking to bring him on as an attacking substitute with 20 minutes to go. Instead, he had to bring on defenders Josh Duberry and Tony Speller to try and give us a spark from somewhere, as our other substitute Aron White, another creative player, had aggravated his ankle injury in the warm-up.
In the end it was a dismal defeat and everybody's heads were down on the final whistle, but at least we are going to give training a go this season, and the indications are that most of our players are willing to attend, even if some of them sneaked away from this game at the end without paying any subs and were maybe under the impression that every game would be like this this season !?

Sunday 21st September 2008

Mercury Waltham Sunday League, Roy Bailey Challenge Cup First Round Match at Hazelwood Sports Ground

EDMONTON ROVERS
2
UPSHIRE RESERVES
4

HT 1-0

    Mc,Govern (11 mins.),
    S.Dorward (Pen.) (92 mins.)

     Deboo (56 mins.),
     Turpin (58 mins.),
     West (64 mins.),
     David (87 mins.)

EDMONTON ROVERS LINE-UP (with Marks out of 10): Martin LOVEDAY (GK) (6); Stuart DORWARD (6), Alan BARNARD (6), Terry MOORE (6); Paul AMICO (6), Rob BROWN (6), Tem ADIL (6), Aron WHITE (6½); Terry BROWN (6); Conor Mc,GOVERN (6), Danny GREEN (6) Subs.: Vernon 'Kizza' NXUMALO (On for Amico 63 mins.) (6), Jamie MARTIN (On for Green 70 mins.) (6), Tony SPELLER (On for Adil 70 mins.) (6)

UPSHIRE RESERVES LINE-UP: Danny PIPER (GK); Harry HEATHER, Liam PEACOCK, Kyle DALY, Mark DEBOO; Mark LAWS, Richard PIPER, Robert FRANKLIN, Chris SHARMAN; Trevor DAVID, Danny TURPIN Subs.: Andrew WEST (On at Half-Time for Franklin), Jamie HOLD (On for Heather 58 mins.), Ryan WARD (On for Sharman 88 mins.)

Referee:   Paul FULLER Weather Conditions: Warm & Sunny Attendance:   16

Report (by Laurence Hughes): The only previous meeting between a Rovers side and Upshire's Reserves was back in 2004 when our ill-fated Reserve Team narrowly lost 1-0 to them in the League Reserve Cup Final. With Upshire Reserves currently a mid-table Division Three side and us fielding a very strong side for this match with six changes to the starting line-up, we therefore expected to win this game reasonably comfortably...but this was the First Round of a Cup competition, which invariably means a defeat no matter who we are playing !
Upshire Reserves turned up with a much stronger side than we anticipated, as they had now apparently 'split' from their First Team in terms of providing them with their best players when they were short, and with several experienced former First Team players in their line-up who had played against us before in the Premier Division, it meant we were in for a closely-fought game. However, as we did the week before, we started quite well with some good sharp passing and movement on a Hazelwood pitch in superb condition as always, and this time we even managed to go 1-0 up as early as the 11th minute when Conor Mc,Govern headed in Aron White's well-flighted free-kick. Upshire though raised their game after that when most lower Division sides might have crumbled and they gave us no time on the ball whatsoever and were consistently stronger and sharper in their challenges all round. That saw them create twice as many clear-cut chances in the First Half including two efforts that cannoned off the crossbar with half-injured goalkeeper Martin Loveday well-beaten, while Loveday also had to make two or three decent saves. However, Conor Mc,Govern and Danny Green both could have increased the lead for us, but all in all, we were slightly fortunate to come off at Half-Time still 1-0 up, even though we had more possession and had forced a number of corners.
The Second Half continued in the same vein though, as Upshire's players were very fit and fired up, but it was from a fluke sliced cross from left-back Mark Deboo that they managed to equalise in the 56th minute after it sailed over Loveday's head and into the far top corner. We then really went to pieces after that as Upshire went 2-1 up just two minutes later when forward Danny Turpin rounded Loveday to score from a good through ball, then just six minutes after that, substitute midfielder Andrew West was left unmarked to head in a Mark Laws cross from 6 yards. We then brought on three substitutes at various stages which saw us get back into the match and Stuart Dorward could easily have pulled a goal back on a couple of occasions which might have made Upshire panic a bit, but he twice fired wide with only keeper Danny Piper to beat. However, Upshire killed the game off in the 87th minute on the break as lanky forward Trevor David beat Terry Moore in a 50/50 challenge to score with a mis-hit low shot that trickled past Loveday into the bottom corner, and although Stuart Dorward did manage to convert a penalty after substitute Jamie Martin had been pushed over in the area, it was deep into Injury Time and always a consolation goal only.
With Stuart, Conor Mc,Govern and Rob Brown (arguably our three most important players) all playing in this match when they had missed the previous week's 4-0 defeat to Abbey Youth Old Boys, this was a really worrying result to lose to a lower Division side with them playing and with quality new signings such as Paul Amico, Terry Brown and Aron White all in the side as well. However, the mood in the changing rooms afterwards was (apparently) sensible and positive, as it was obvious that although we undoubtedly have a squad of real quality this season, if most of our players can only play once every two or three weeks (as is happening at the moment for various reasons) they are bound to be lacking in sharpness and match practice no matter who they are...hence our opponents being quicker to the ball and having the better teamwork. In fact we have used 29 players already in our five League and Pre-Season Friendly matches played so far, while not one player has played in all five matches. Everybody has missed at least one game due to work or family commitments or an injury. Fortunately, there is no reason to suggest that this is going to happen all season long, so it is just a case of being patient until we can find more of a settled side of players who can play regularly.

Sunday 28th September 2008

Mercury Waltham Sunday League Division One Match at St. Margaretsbury F.C.

ST. MARGARETSBURY (SUNDAY)
2
EDMONTON ROVERS
1

HT 0-0

    Weatherhead (79 mins.),
    Donno (82 mins.)    Daley (64 mins.)

ST. MARGARETSBURY'S LINE-UP: Gareth EVANS (GK); Mark ELLIOTT, David APPLEYARD, Simon BOLDEN, Richard GREEN; Darren WOOD, Andy DJEMAL, Dominic ANGELINI; Gerry ADAMSON, Lee WEATHERHEAD, Ian WHITE Subs.: Marc ANGELINI (On for White 53 mins.), Mark DONNO (On for Wood 53 mins.), Harry LANGSTON (On for D.Angelini 73 mins.)

EDMONTON ROVERS LINE-UP (with Marks out of 10): Darryl JOHNSON (GK) (6); Terry MOORE (7), Alan BARNARD (7), Paul WOOLSTON (7), Jim ARROWSMITH (7); Paul AMICO (6½), Tony SPELLER (6), Tem ADIL (6), Aron WHITE (6½); Daniel DALEY (7), Terry BROWN (6½) Subs.: Scott JENKINS (On for Speller 58 mins.) (5½), Martin LOVEDAY (On for Amico 73 mins.) (5½)

Referee:   Steve MURLESS Weather Conditions: Warm & Sunny Attendance:   18

Report (by Laurence Hughes): Both sides came into this game having suffered demoralising defeats in the Roy Bailey Challenge Cup the week before, as while we were losing to Upshire Reserves, St. Margaretsbury were being hammered 7-2 at Home to Upshire's First Team. Those results indicated that this match would probably be a close one, and that's exactly how it turned out. St. Margaretsbury had actually won both of their Division One matches played so far though, and like us, had strengthened their squad for this season. Unlike us though, they managed to field a strong side for this one with plenty of good options on the bench, whereas we had four players drop out of our 16-man squad more-or-less on the morning of the match, leaving us with only two substitutes who were both half-injured and/or pissed. At least we managed to get defender Jim Arrowsmith to play at the last minute so that we could field a reasonably fit starting eleven, but it was really frustrating to see Jamie Martin (Flu) and Danny Hagan (who predictably aggravated his groin strain playing for Crouch End Vampires) both drop out late on Saturday night, then Tony King and Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo also do likewise on the morning of the match, Kizza because of flu and Tony because he 'fell over' on Saturday night and twisted his ankle again...no doubt while in a drunken state after over-celebrating Hull's win at Arsenal ?! (If not, why not ?).
With four other key players in skipper Stuart Dorward, top goalscorer Conor Mc,Govern, first-choice midfielder Rob Brown and forward Danny Green all unavailable as well due to work and social commitments, Manager Trevor Hughes was somewhat forced into changing his formation to a 4-4-2 to accommodate Jim Arrowsmith in his normal left-back position, but with first-choice keeper Darryl Johnson playing a rare game and Paul Woolston available, it meant we were very strong defensively, especially with defender Tony Speller playing in a midfield role as well. However, forwards Daniel Daley and Terry Brown (yet another new partnership after Daley's passport photo was finally accepted by the League during the week) had to battle away on their own up front as none of our midfield players were the sort to get into the box and give them some support (a la Dorward), so although we once again passed the ball about well, there was very little end product and the First Half finished scoreless with very few clear-cut chances for either side.
The pattern continued at the start of the Second Half, so St. Margaretsbury made the first move by bringing on a couple of quality midfielders after 53 minutes, and with the badly unfit Tony Speller starting to tire in trying to cope with that, we therefore had to substitute him with the rather more athletic Scott Jenkins shortly afterwards, even though he himself was suffering from a rib injury and the usual excess alcohol.
That did the trick though, as we took the lead in the 64th minute, although we had a bit of luck in doing so, as the video shows Daniel Daley appearing to be offside from Terry Moore's long ball, but possibly onside if Terry Brown got a slight flick as the ball was on it's way (and it doesn't look as if he did), but Referee Steve Murless seemingly shouted play on 'because Daley ran from his own half' anyway (which he clearly didn't !). Daley then sprinted clean through, rounded keeper Evans and scored with a good finish from a tight angle, but St. Margaretsbury's players seemed just as confused as the rest of us and didn't seem to complain too much.
After that, it looked like we would hold on comfortably as we were definitely the better side at that stage and had not been in trouble defensively at all apart from a couple of early fumbles from a rusty Darryl Johnson. However, right-sided midfielder Paul Amico then went and aggravated a back injury after falling heavily from an aerial challenge in the 73rd minute, and that saw him have to go off to be replaced by central defender Martin Loveday, who had been out for nearly two months with a bad ankle injury and was hoping not to be needed...especially in the centre of midfield which was where he had to play with us having no other options. In addition to that, St. Margaretsbury then changed their formation and really started catching us out at the back, firstly with a free header over the bar from Dominic Angelini which should have been buried, and then an equaliser in the 79th minute when their experienced battering ram of a forward Lee Weatherhead ran past a square defence onto a long defensive header to finish into the bottom corner.
As we did the previous week, we then crumbled as St. Margaretsbury went 2-1 up just three minutes later with a similar goal, this time from substitute Mark Donno, who ran from midfield unopposed onto a through ball to battle his way past Terry Moore, then round a hesitant 'D.J.' and score with another good finish.
With three wins out of three in Division One in sight for them, St. Margaretsbury were not surprisingly really fired up for the last eight minutes, and with us having run out of options (or not having any in the first place), we never really looked like getting back into the game and therefore slumped to our third defeat in a row...despite our Pre-Season optimism regarding the strength of our squad this season.
Once again though, it was a case of having too many good players missing and not being able to field a settled side. With us playing Away to St. Margaretsbury again in our next match, this time in the League Senior Cup, we will just have to hope that we can find the right combination of players this time as there are bound to be changes. There always are.