Match Report

Dunton Dynamos 2 - 10 Ockendon Motor Spares

U11 League Match - 13th April 2008

After being thumped 11-1 by this team only a matter of weeks ago, we know this was going to be a difficult game. Ockendon are a very well organised side and looked comfortable on the ball the last time we played them.

This was a landmark game for the Dunton team - our trusty goalkeeper Liam played his first game between the stick since breaking his foot before Christmas. Indeed, for the first time in a very long time we had a full squad to pick from, which makes a nice change!

The game was started in bright, warm conditions with many of the watching crowd wearing shirt-sleeves (nothing else, just shirt-sleeves!). Dunton kicked off and within thirteen seconds we were 1-0 up! A fantastic ball through the middle was latched onto by Billy who was wide awake to the situation. He raced in on goal to shot, the keeper blocked but Ethan was there to pick up the loose ball and rifle it into the back of the net. None of us expected that!

This clearly shook the Ockendon side as they didn't look their usual composed selves. Dunton continued to challenge for every ball. Slowly but surely however, the Ockendon side grew stronger and look more menacing in-front of goal. Eventually the pressure told and the scored an equalizer following a well drilled shot which got a huge deflection off a defender, wrong-footing our keeper.

Ockendon continued to press forward and scored four more goals to make the score 5-1. Then came another moment of Dunton magic. Dave, Jordan and Calum all linked well to put Jordan through on goal with only the keeper to beat. He took his shot early - a left-footed half-volley which whistled past the keeper into the back of the net - what a stunning finish and a well-worked team goal! The score at half-time was therefore 5-2 and we were by no means out of the game.

In the second-half, Ockendon continued where they left off in the first. They quickly scored a sixth goal and were then very lucky to be given a seventh goal with three players clearly stood in an offside position when the goal was scored. The Dunton defence had pushed up as they usually do in such situations, an attacking player hit a well-struck shot from outside the box with the three offside players obstructing the keeper's view of the ball. The linesman flagged as he viewed the players as being active and therefore offside, however the referee over-ruled him. When you're at the bottom of the table and you're on the end of decisions like this it can be a little hard to take. Thankfully, everyone accepted the ref's decision and our players continued to battle hard.

Ockendon apparently went on to score three more goals acording to the referee, even though both managers thought the final score was 9-2! At this stage in the season, one extra goal against us isn't going to make a difference, but when you're luck out, it's out!

Man of the match today was Jordan who played his first game on field for a number of weeks - he'd been deputising for Liam in goal of late. He was involved in all the best moves and scored a stunning goal. But best of all was his attitude - he was positive throughout and worked hard to keep the team's spirits up. Other excellent performances came from Ethan who had another excellent game on the right side of midfield, James who was solid and very vocal at the back (in a good way!), Liam who made a number of superb saves and Dave who again led by example. One or two players gave poor performances on the day and were clearly not at their usual best. Most notably, Cameron was very average when he came on in the second-half and was given the "hairdryer" treatment by his Dad (the boss) when he got home! - who'd be the manager's son eh!?

All in all, this was a good team performance, particularly in the first half. We've only got three more League games this season before we can start preparing for a season in a lower division, better matched to our current ability.

Our thanks go to the Ockendon side for good game played in excellent spirits throughout. Bizarrely, the fixture is repeated next week, so hopefully we can give a better account of ourselves then.