Match Report

Dunton Dynamos 2 - 0 Thurrock Tigers

League match - 5th October 2008; Conditions: Torrential rain!

Following the disappointment of last week's performance against Stadium United, the Dunton side needed a good performance against Thurrock Tigers to get their season back on track. Joint league leaders Thurrock Tigers were our opponents today - having won their opening two games, we knew this would be a tough test for our plucky squad.

We were once again without two key players - Dave was still absent following his recent facial injury (broken nose, etc) and Billy had a prior engagement. To make matters worse, our ever dependant goalkeeper arrived at training on Thursday night with his hand in a bandage following an altercation with a bus after school - it could only happen to Liam! The doctors advice was he's not to go in goal for two to three weeks. So reserve goalkeeper and regular centre-back Calum took over the goalkeeping responsibilities with Liam slotting in as centre-back. Also in defence were Chaz (on the left), James (in the middle) and Jack on the right. In midfield we had Luke on the right, Jordan on the left and James M and George in the middle. Up front we had Sonny (captain for the day) and Joseph. Substitutes today were Cameron, Harry and Ben.

Thurrock won the toss and elected to kick-off playing uphill. Both sides were fairly evenly matched in the opening period with much of the play taking place in midfield. Liam was doing a fine job in the heart of our defence and kept the other three organised. Calum also looked solid in goal and was called into action on a couple of occasions to make a save. In a goalkeeper's worse weather conditions (driving rain and a very slippy pitch) his handling was secure and his kicking was as impressive as ever.

We launched several attacks on our opponents goal though much of our early work was thwarted by the linesman's offside flag. Joe was making a nuisance of himself up front and supported the midfield well when required. Sonny (also playing his first game up front) frequently dropped back into midfield meaning we lacked a bit of an edge in front of goal. The first-half ended goal-less with Dunton having the better of things.

In the second-half, Dunton kicked off playing up hill. Paul had made a couple of changes with Luke (suffering with a stitch) being replaced by Ben, James (suffering with a headache) replaced by Cameron and Jack being replaced by Harry. Harry took up his preferred role in attack with Joseph dropping into the right-wing role. Cameron replaced Chaz at left-back with Chaz reverting to the right-back role. Ben slotted into the middle as centre-back. We still looked to have retained our shape with George and James M pairing up well in midfield to snuff out most Thurrock attacks. The breakthrough came five minutes into the second-half when Sonny raced through to smash home the opening goal.

We continued to press and had a number of good efforts. Jordan was back to his best with a couple of excellent free-kicks and corners as well as some excellent long-range strikes on goal. Harry also looked sure to score on more than one occasion but was ultimately unable to take advantage. Joseph also played some superb passes to break open the Thurrock defence and almost scored himself. It was surely only a matter of time before we got a second goal and so it proved to be. Sonny won the ball in midfield, beat two players and cracked home his second goal - finishing in the bottom left corner of the goal past the Thurrock keeper's despairing dive.

To their credit, the Thurrock side kept their chins up and kept plugging away. They forced a couple of corners in the last five minutes to keep us under pressure but we rallied to get behind the ball and secure our first win of the season.

This was a completely different team performance from what we saw last week. Everyone looked "up for it" and we never looked like losing this one. Well done to the whole team - this is much more like the performances we know you're capable of.

Man-of-the-match today could have gone to any one of about half-a-dozen players but in the end it was presented to Liam. In his first game in defence his looked solid and dependable and not at all out of place. The back four looked generally solid throughout and kept their first clean sheet in a very long time. The goalkeeper Calum was also magnificent, given that he's played very few games "between the sticks". The central midfield pairing of James M and George seemed to work well with both joining the attack when required but also tracking back to help out in defence when required. All in all, a very pleasing performance. Congratulations and well done!

Our thanks go to the Thurrock team who made this an excellent spectacle. They play the way the game is meant to be played - hard but fair and their a credit to their club. We're sure they'll be looking forward to the return fixture - almost as much as we will be!