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14th Oct GroundHoppers 6 vs 1 Palace Athletic
Started the game very well , playing some nice football without an end product. Palace were big and quite aggressive and probably thought we would roll over but they
didnt trouble jamie in goal once in the first half. we continued to create chances and eventually converted through aydens head from seans delivery, and then quickly added a second with anice finish from martin.
half-time 2-0 up and quite comfortable , they had one player of note their number 10 who kept dropping on to his own back four and dictating their play. with that in
mind we was quite confident going in to the second half, but then its never plain sailing with us !!!
Palace started the half stronger and forced a couple of corners and eventually created a great chance which their player took fantastically well, with jamie beaten we
was just waiting for the net to bulge then.. is it a bird? , is it a plane? no, John Huggins leapt and scooped the ball from going top corner ! great save !! however, the ref didnt see it like that and sent 'john the cat' off. They scored the resulting penalty, 2-1 up with 10 men and 35 minutes to go ! with them on top !!
Boom sean scores a worldy, that he meant ! 3-1 . Made a sub, to change things up, 'ben' on for luke, dropped martin into midfield. Great wingplay from ben sets Ayden with a great header, keeper saves. Another good move down the left, good link up play with ben, martin and sean , good finish from ben , brilliant team goal, 4-1. Again more pressure from the left, resulting in seans second goal. 5-1
Palace with the extra man advantage had no answer , and again pressure from the left resulting in 'bens' second goal, 6-1.
At this point there manager was going mental calling them an embaressment.
Summary; great save from huggs, amazing team spirit mixed with some great football, never boring.
m.o.m = sid (sean)
didnt trouble jamie in goal once in the first half. we continued to create chances and eventually converted through aydens head from seans delivery, and then quickly added a second with anice finish from martin.
half-time 2-0 up and quite comfortable , they had one player of note their number 10 who kept dropping on to his own back four and dictating their play. with that in
mind we was quite confident going in to the second half, but then its never plain sailing with us !!!
Palace started the half stronger and forced a couple of corners and eventually created a great chance which their player took fantastically well, with jamie beaten we
was just waiting for the net to bulge then.. is it a bird? , is it a plane? no, John Huggins leapt and scooped the ball from going top corner ! great save !! however, the ref didnt see it like that and sent 'john the cat' off. They scored the resulting penalty, 2-1 up with 10 men and 35 minutes to go ! with them on top !!
Boom sean scores a worldy, that he meant ! 3-1 . Made a sub, to change things up, 'ben' on for luke, dropped martin into midfield. Great wingplay from ben sets Ayden with a great header, keeper saves. Another good move down the left, good link up play with ben, martin and sean , good finish from ben , brilliant team goal, 4-1. Again more pressure from the left, resulting in seans second goal. 5-1
Palace with the extra man advantage had no answer , and again pressure from the left resulting in 'bens' second goal, 6-1.
At this point there manager was going mental calling them an embaressment.
Summary; great save from huggs, amazing team spirit mixed with some great football, never boring.
m.o.m = sid (sean)
0-0 v orpington town
first league game against the team that won our league last year. orpington also havent lost a league game in 3 years, add that to the two fiercely fought games from last year between us, this game didnt need much of a pre-match teamtalk. our pre season performances were very dissappointing, however, i was still strangely confident we could get something out of this game. jamie oconnell was back between the sticks and showed the same composure and handling as our injured keeper ricky continually did so well last season. The game was fiercely contested, the back four and keeper were immense for 90 minutes and didnt really give orpington a sniff, we dealt very well with their boring but normally effective long ball tactics.
Rob and john chesh shackled their big striker and allowed him only once to get past ,but jamie dealt with the chance quite comfortably.
second half we were getting stronger with orpington looking considerably frustrated and tired , they seemed clueless as they have no plan b. Talking of bs , B-rad was
bullying people for fun ! his size wasnt an issue because his attitude and desire couldnt be equalled. Some good chances were created by the midfield and our strikers were unlucky not to convert.
Summary; was probably one of my proudest games, the 0-0 result felt like a defeat because we deserved more for our efforts. If the team could show this attitude in every
game, we wouldnt lose many and we would put ourselves in a position to challenge for league and cups. Great performance from 14 great players.
Rob and john chesh shackled their big striker and allowed him only once to get past ,but jamie dealt with the chance quite comfortably.
second half we were getting stronger with orpington looking considerably frustrated and tired , they seemed clueless as they have no plan b. Talking of bs , B-rad was
bullying people for fun ! his size wasnt an issue because his attitude and desire couldnt be equalled. Some good chances were created by the midfield and our strikers were unlucky not to convert.
Summary; was probably one of my proudest games, the 0-0 result felt like a defeat because we deserved more for our efforts. If the team could show this attitude in every
game, we wouldnt lose many and we would put ourselves in a position to challenge for league and cups. Great performance from 14 great players.
Baldon Sports 1 - 4 GroundHoppers
next up was baldon, we played these in a friendly at the end of last season which ended up in a 2-2 draw in a
game we dominated the first half and shouldve had
more than the 2 we scored, the second half they were the better team and scored 2 soft goals both individual mistakes. One to watch was their very quick striker.
Their home ground was the old co-op ground in eltham. There was 2 burnt out minis at our end for a goal and a skip and a tractor at the other end !! only joking, but proper poor pitch. We started well creating chances and eventually scored from a great ball from joe which ayden put away first time. half time 0-1.
second half they started a bit better , bit scrappy then ayden scored another. Not a pretty game to watch, but baldon were not as strong as last time we played them,
highlighted by joes free kick, when the keeper positioned his wall and then stood behind it ! so joe put it the other side ! Luke then added the fourth (annoyingly lol)
after good work from ayden. Baldon then snatched one near the end after a goalmouth scramble, gutted not to keep a clean sheet.
Summary: half decent performance on a poor pitch.
more than the 2 we scored, the second half they were the better team and scored 2 soft goals both individual mistakes. One to watch was their very quick striker.
Their home ground was the old co-op ground in eltham. There was 2 burnt out minis at our end for a goal and a skip and a tractor at the other end !! only joking, but proper poor pitch. We started well creating chances and eventually scored from a great ball from joe which ayden put away first time. half time 0-1.
second half they started a bit better , bit scrappy then ayden scored another. Not a pretty game to watch, but baldon were not as strong as last time we played them,
highlighted by joes free kick, when the keeper positioned his wall and then stood behind it ! so joe put it the other side ! Luke then added the fourth (annoyingly lol)
after good work from ayden. Baldon then snatched one near the end after a goalmouth scramble, gutted not to keep a clean sheet.
Summary: half decent performance on a poor pitch.
GroundHoppers 4 - 4 Elms [(4-4) aet 4 - 5 pens]
Cup game against elms, never played them but did know that a lot of station fc players now play for them. Not the best attitude going into this game this was our home
game but had to be played at bellingham because there was no room for us at sydenham, many not happy.
Also tom was too injured to play and sean was too innebriated to play. Missing a few squad members and attitude not right wasnt installing much confidence.
First half was pretty comfortable, defended quite well and scored a couple through good link up play between ayden and mitch. half time 2-1 up.
second half they came out like a rocket scoring 3 quick goals, 4-2 down !! Got through that bad spell and scored 2 goals through ayden and penalty from sean (he had
sobered up by then) 4-4 and we created good chances for luke, bradley, ayden, luke, sean, joe, and luke again. Wasnt to be, extra time , players were dead on their
feet but we still created to one on ones for jay and ayden which didnt find the net. Penalties it was.
Summary; poor attitude poor preparation poor finishing = game lost
Also tom was too injured to play and sean was too innebriated to play. Missing a few squad members and attitude not right wasnt installing much confidence.
First half was pretty comfortable, defended quite well and scored a couple through good link up play between ayden and mitch. half time 2-1 up.
second half they came out like a rocket scoring 3 quick goals, 4-2 down !! Got through that bad spell and scored 2 goals through ayden and penalty from sean (he had
sobered up by then) 4-4 and we created good chances for luke, bradley, ayden, luke, sean, joe, and luke again. Wasnt to be, extra time , players were dead on their
feet but we still created to one on ones for jay and ayden which didnt find the net. Penalties it was.
Summary; poor attitude poor preparation poor finishing = game lost
Bromley Athletic 2 - 2 GroundHoppers [ (2 - 4) aet ]
Another cup game at least this was on a decent pitch, hsbc beckenham. First half played some great football and wasnt really troubled, and took the lead through martin-van-part-time-parker , nice finish from edge of the box. Another injury
for ben, hes consistant i'll give him that ! up for a header and landed akwardly and rolled his ankle. Jay on. Good first half, comfortable, playing some neat football down the wings and keeping ball pretty well, half time 1-0 up.
Started second half the same way, great wing play by luke taking on 3 players and then crossing for ayden for a good finish. 2-0 up and cruising then...... one of the worst refereeing decisions ive ever seen ! and ive seen a few !. Their midfielder shoots powerfully from the edge of the area and leon slides to block, the referee then deems it handball by leon ! having been hit on the hand at pace from 3 yards away whilst on the floor looking in the opposite direction !!!
Everyones gone mental including leon who we couldnt calm down because the decision was ludicrous. Aftermath = penalty which they scored, leon sent off !!
5 minutes later their striker slots a second whilst were a proper mess , 2-2 .
15 minutes into the second half we have conceeded 2 goals, had a player sent off, and have now got 2 players at each others throats!!!!!!
Proper threw a hissy fit at full time, first at the ref then at my team.
Now into extra time for the second week running, this time with 10 men. Luckily the team settled and we totally outplayed them in both halves of extra time with a goal in either half by ayden and mvp , 4-2 Summary ; great football at times, great character to see the game out, but included a lot of things i dont want to see again, including the ref.
Started second half the same way, great wing play by luke taking on 3 players and then crossing for ayden for a good finish. 2-0 up and cruising then...... one of the worst refereeing decisions ive ever seen ! and ive seen a few !. Their midfielder shoots powerfully from the edge of the area and leon slides to block, the referee then deems it handball by leon ! having been hit on the hand at pace from 3 yards away whilst on the floor looking in the opposite direction !!!
Everyones gone mental including leon who we couldnt calm down because the decision was ludicrous. Aftermath = penalty which they scored, leon sent off !!
5 minutes later their striker slots a second whilst were a proper mess , 2-2 .
15 minutes into the second half we have conceeded 2 goals, had a player sent off, and have now got 2 players at each others throats!!!!!!
Proper threw a hissy fit at full time, first at the ref then at my team.
Now into extra time for the second week running, this time with 10 men. Luckily the team settled and we totally outplayed them in both halves of extra time with a goal in either half by ayden and mvp , 4-2 Summary ; great football at times, great character to see the game out, but included a lot of things i dont want to see again, including the ref.