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The Shark Page

Benny Coppola writes his match reports and comments on the club. 

Shark Page...


Abbey Youth Old Boys  5  -1  Flamstead End

After Matt suffered a serious injury last week, we knew changes were going to have to be made to the team that played the previous week. Unfortunately when we turned up on Sunday we were missing several key players. With Matty and Greg injured, Dean, Ben, Nic, Paul K and Martin away we only had 13 players to choose from. This included myself, both the Bourkes who were not really in a fit state to play, Tom and Lewis making there first appearances this season.

Therefore we started with Chopper in goal, Paz, Gav, Paul Bourke and Lockie across the back. Tom on the right, Dan on the left of midfiled, and three central players of Stef, Dave and Ant, and Nicky upfront by himself. That left us with Kev on the bench with Lewis.

 

From the kick off we never got into gear, but neither team were really looking like scoring, in fact Abbey Keeper had the most two do with a good save from Stef the best opportunity. That was until about 5 minutes before half time, sloppy defending allowed our opposition to pick up the ball and when it was centre, the forward shot from the edge of the box to open up the scoring for them. They went in at Half time 1-0 up.

The second half kicked off, and was much the same as the first we gave the ball away far to easily, and Abbey double there lead when a shot from distance flew over Choppers head, a third goal again a shot from the edge of the box gave Abbey there third goal.

Changes were made and Kev who had come on at halftime was in no state to continue, so he went in goal and chopper came out on pitch. Kev then found himself picking the ball out the net after a looping cross, see Kev slip as him came too collect, and the ball flew straight over his head as he sat on the floor.

We then started to pass the ball a bit better, and this see Nicky pull one back after Lewis had his shot parried by the keeper. Moment later Nicky found himself clean through with just the keeper to beat, but the defender jumped on his back pulling him down to the floor. A case for a straight red, but the referee decided not to show any colour card at all, a let of for the Abbey defender, who faced the prospect of a fine and suspension had he been sent off.

The resulting free kick see Paz try a shot with the outside of his boot that almost hit the corner flag, and Abbey scored their fifth moments later.

To sum up we missed Matty in goal, I am sure he would have definitely saved the first four goals and given confidence to our defence. We also missed several other players, which would have made the game a lot harder for Abbey Youth OB.

We now have a free week this week, so hopefully this will see players recover from injury and the likes of Dean, Ben etc return from holiday. We do however need to find another keeper, so if anybody knows of anyone please let us know.

 
 
 
 
9th September: East Herts 2 - 1 Flamstead End
 
After last weeks result and performance, players were very confident going into the match. There was only 1 change in the team selection with Nic replacing Dan on the left side of midfield. Subs were Benny, Greg, Martin, Dan and Paul Kenney. Absentees were Dean (working), Tom (injured).
The pitch was in a terrible condition with such long grass. This was very dangerous to both sets of players as the grass covered up all the holes.
We started very slowly and East Herts had the better of the opening 15 minutes. Both teams were very commited in the challenges and this was a game both sides really wanted to win. We started to get into the game and pushed forward. The pitch seemed to suit East Herts more as they love the long ball and looked very dangerous when attacking but defensively they looked weak. Nic pulled up with a hamstring injury and Greg, for his debut, went to left back and Locky switched to midfield. With nearly half hour on the clock a long ball forward saw Matty rush off his line. With Pauley already committed in trying to head the ball away he and Matty collided and both went down injured. The ball fell to their stiker and although Paz tried to stop him shooting, he tapped it into an empty net. I rushed onto the pitch with water to find Pauley with a swollen cut lip but Matty came off far worse. An ambulance was called and after 40 minutes on the pitch, Matty was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured leg. (Test have since showed that Matty has snapped his ligaments either side of the ankle and we are awaiting swelling to go down to determine if fractured). This was a major blow to us to lose what i consider the best keeper in the Mercury League. Ant went in goal and Martin came on in central midfield. With 5 minutes of the half remaining Locky found himself with the keeper to beat. At a very acute angle he shot the ball into the net and the half ended level at 1-1.
The second half was much the same, East Herts pumping the long ball forward and FEFC trying to play football only to constantly be frustrated by the long grass slowing the ball down and breaking up numerous attacks. Neither side created much and it took an excellently timed tackle from Pauley to deny their striker with a shot at goal with only Ant to beat. Apart from a few long range efforts, neither side looked like taking the lead. With 15 minutes remaining Benny replaced Locky for some fresh legs. Stef went to left midfield and Benny joined Nicky up front. The game looked to be heading for a draw but with 3 minutes on the clock, East Herts got a corner. Ant, who was excellent in goal after replacing Matty, caught the ball but it slipped through his hands and fell to an East Herts player to drill home from 2 yards. A devastating blow and very cruel. The game ended 2-1 to East Herts.
 
I feel the pitch played a major part in this game as it suited East Herts with the long ball play. It stopped FEFC playing their passing football which limited us to few chances. The loss of Matty was a major blow as he is pure quality and gives the defence confidence. Ant played brilliantly in goal and the defence were quality. The midfield and stikers battled well in difficult conditions and on a better pitch i feel we win win comfortably. A draw would have been a fair result on this occasion. Every player played well and the commitment was great to see again. Greg had a superb debut, Pauley was a rock at the back and Stef (MOM) was superb. I will look at the positives and wont let this blip affect our performances going forward.
 
 

2nd September: Highway 1 - 3 Flamstead End
 
Only absentees this week were Martin (Hols), Greg (Injured), P Kenney (Hols), Tom (Not yet registered).
Started very brightly and had control of the game. 3 one on one chances with the keeper and failed to hit target on all occasions. Deadlock finally broken when from a corner Nicky Barnes turned on the edge of the box and shot hard and low into the bottm corner leaving the keeper no chance to save it. Highway started to come into the game and only a superb late challenge from Gav kept FEFC in the lead. With seconds ticking on the clock Ant took out the Highway striker near the corner flag and received a yellow card. From the resulting free kick the ball somehow beat the wall and fizzled hard and low into the bottom corner. The whistle blew instantly and was a bitter pill to swallow. At half time we looked at the positives and seemed very keen to put the goal behind us by winning the match.

The second half was totally dominated by FEFC and chance after chance went begging. FEFC regained the lead when Stef went on an amazing mazy run and hit shot was parried by the keeper only for the defender to shoot high into the top corner for a great goal. 2-1 FEFC and we looked very comfortable from here on. Nic replaced Dan on the left of midfield and Dean replaced Stef. Both had great games but fresh legs were needed. With 20 minutes remaining the game was put beyond Highway's reach when an excellent move resulted in Ant running through on goal and cooly slotting the ball into the bottom corner. Totally deserved and we really looked like a team full of confidence. Benny returned from a year long absence after breaking his leg, replacing Kev. Dave swithched to right midfield, Dean dropped into midfield and Benny went up front. Felt amazing to be back playing the beautiful game and is what i have been dreaming of for months. FEFC continued to dominate the match but poor finishing and trying to walk the ball into the net meant we failed to score. The game ended 3-1.

Finally we started brightly and gained a well deserved win. We played excellent passing football from the defence to midfield through to the strikers and created numerous chances. The game should have been killed off long before but was pleasing to create so many clear cut chances although we failed to find the net. Hopefully we can continue the form and be near the top of the table at November time when we really seem to hit top form in previous seasons. An excellent squad of players and i really do have high hopes this season. Lets continue training hard and playing our passing football on the pitch and we will achieve long awaited success. I know its early in the season but i expect to challenge for the league title and have good cup runs. We are capable of this so lets prove me right

 
 


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