Match Report

Ockendon Rhinos 6 - 0 Dunton Dynamos

U11 League - 11th November 2007

Having played Ockendon Rhinos the previous Sunday, by some strange quirk of the fixture scheduling, we found ourselves up against this tough side once again.

The day didn't get off to the best of starts with two players unable to play due to sickness / prior engagements. This meant we only had eleven players available as our new signing (Sonny) was not yet eligible to play. To make matters worse, one of our team was delayed arriving at the meeting point - meaning the manager had to wait for his arrival whilst the others departed. And the final disaster was four cars in the traveling convoy lost contact with the leaders and subsequently got lost. Thankfully, satellite navigation saved the day. Thankfully, the referee delayed kick-off by fifteen minutes to enable our squad to assemble. So, the omens didn't look good for this game!

This League match was played on a cold, damp November morning in bright sunshine. Dunton turned out in their now familiar all-white kit, with the Rhinos playing in their silver and green kit. Having arrived late, the Dynamos did not get the chance to warm-up before they kicked-off into the headwind.

The Dunton team played with Jack, Calum, Billy and Cameron across the back, Dave, Ben, George, James and Jordan playing across the midfield and Ross playing up-front.

Despite the calamities leading up to the game, the Dynamos started brightly and gave a good account of themselves in the early stages. Ockendon also started well and were clearly out to see if they could beat us by a bigger margin than they did the week before.

Sustained early pressure on the Dunton goal resulted in an early goal for the Rhinos. This was followed soon after by a second. Stout defending the the Dynamos kept the scored at 2-0 whilst the team grew in confidence. We launched several attacks on the Rhinos goal, with Rhinos conceding no fewer than six corners in the first period. The game was by no means the one-sided affair we'd seen in the first half of last week's game. Towards the end of the half, the Rhinos were awarded a very controversial free-kick after our goalkeeper was adjudged to have handled the ball outside the area. This appeared extremely harsh to say the least. From the resulting kick, Ockendon scored a third goal before the half-time interval.

In the second-half, we made a few tactical changes with Calum and James switching positions. This seemed to give the team a better balance and we spend much more time in possession of the ball and created a number of good opportunities to score. We committed players forward in an attempt to get back into the game and therefore became exposed to the breakaway attack. Ockendon scored three more goals late on to seal the victory. In the end and for the second week running, the Rhinos won 6-0.

Man of the match today was Billy for his superb efforts at the heart of our defense. He made numerous well-timed challenges to break-up the Rhinos attacks and displayed a level of maturity and efficiency deserving of the award. That said, the whole team played exceptionally well against such strong opposition. With a full squad of players available and a repeat of the effort they put into this match, there's no doubt we'll grind out some good results in the coming months. Well done boys and let's see if we can give a similar performance against Thurrock "A" in the Cup game this weekend. The final result is not important at this stage - enjoy yourself and let's see how much we've improved since our earlier 8-0 drubbing against this outfit.

Our thanks go to the Ockendon team and referee for accommodating our late arrival. Good luck for the remainder of the season.