Match Report

Tilbury Terrors 0 - 7 Dunton Dynamos

Divisional Cup (1st leg) - 23rd November 2008; Conditions: Bitterly cold and wet!

What a performance! This is one of the best Dynamos performances for a long time and should give a real confidence boost to the team.!

On paper, this should have been a close game, with both sides level on points in the League after two games. In practice however, this was a whitewash. Tilbury didn't have the best of starts to the day with only ten players available to play. The Dynamos also had key players missing with James G, Luke and Jordan all unavailable. Those that did play however gave one of the most impressive displays we've seen, completely destroying our opponents.

Before the game, there was some doubt as to whether the match would be played at all - there had been an overnight frost and one hour before kick-off it was snowing in Dunton! The Tilbury manager confirmed however that the pitch was perfectly playable - so the game went ahead. We've never played at the Tilbury Terrors ground and we were all very impressed by what we found. The pitch was virtually brand new with recently laid turf. It was as flat as a bowling green and in immaculate condition. This is a real credit to the club and groundsman.

The conditions during the game were absolutely awful. It was freezing cold (i.e. the car thermometer showed 1C on the way to the game!) and to make matters worse it started raining just before kick-off - a really cold, icy rain. Team captain today was Liam who was once again in-goal following his recent impressive performances between the sticks. The back four comprised Jack on the right, Chaz on the left, with Billy and Calum in the middle. The midfield was mad up of Joseph on the right-wing, Cameron on the left-wing and George and James M in the middle. Up front we had Sonny and Harry. The substitutes for today were Ben and Ceiran.

Tilbury won the toss and elected to kick-off. The Dynamos were given clear instructions to take full advantage of the extra man by working on their passing game and for once they appeared to have listened! From the off they were stroking the ball about making Tilbury work hard for possession. We had a number of early attempts on goal but were unable to score. About ten minutes in, Calum scored what can only be described as a Beckham-esque goal. The ball came to him on the half-way line. It bobbled in front of him and he hit it on the half-volley. It flew up and over the entire Tilbury side before nestling in the back of the net - what a cracking start!

The Dynamos continued to pile on the pressure with numerous chances being created by the industrious midfield quartet. Joseph showed some fantastic skills down the right side linking well with the front two and the central midfield duo. Cameron was also playing well - he was chasing every loose ball and made plenty of clever passes to put our forwards through. George and James were completely bossing the central midfield area - they both battled hard and and were spreading the ball around superbly. All the while, the back four looked solid and never looked likely to concede a goal, implementing their offside trap to perfection. They linked well with Liam in goal throughout with the captain giving clear instructions and encouragement throughout. Chaz and Jack were encouraged to join in the attacks, acting as wing-backs whilst both Billy and Calum joined the attack during set pieces. Up front, Harry was superb. His off-the-ball running created numerous opportunities and he did everything but score. Sonny was his usual self, getting involved with everything, causing all sorts of problems in the Tilbury defence.

By half-time, we were 4-0 up and it would have been eight or nine had it not been for the excellent Tilbury keeper who made some unbelievable saves. Our goals were scored by Sonny, Joseph and James.

Paul made two changes in the second-half. Ben came on to replace Jack at right-back whilst Ceiran came on to give Harry a break up-front. The Dynamos found their rhythm straight from the re-start. Within ten minutes we'd scored three more goals with Sonny (hat-trick hero) and George both adding to our tally.

The poor Tilbury side looked completely demoralised. One of their players was so cold and upset he was unable to continue. The Tilbury manager therefore requested that the game be conceded with fifteen minutes left to play to avoid any further discomfort for his players. This was a good call as everyone was absolutely frozen and the game had ling been over as a contest. Had the game continued, it was highly likely the Dynamos would have got well into double-figures, such was the standard of their performance. They thoroughly deserved the victory and should feel proud of the performance they gave. Every single player had a great game, demonstrating their passing game to perfection.

With performances like this, it's clear the players can turn on the style when they put their minds to it. Let's hope they learn from this - passing and movement is a much more effective strategy than trying to beat opponents by dribbling round them all the time. Well done boys - keep up the good work!

Our thanks go to the Tilbury side for a great game under difficult conditions. They're clearly a well run team and a great bunch of lads. We're sure they'll prove much more of a challenge in the second-leg when it's hoped they'll be back up to full strength. Our thanks also go to the referee who did very well in difficult conditions. He could see the players were suffering in the cold and wet and made the sensible decision to end the game early when Tilbury went down to nine players.

Our next game is against runaway League leaders Ockendon Rhinos - this'll sort the men out from the boys!