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Sat 30th Jan 2010
League
TAFC First team 0-2 Leverstock Green
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After starting the week at the head of the table the last 4 days has seen us stumble to two 2-0 derby defeats and slip off the top spot. What is further disappointing is that not only did we miss a golden opportunity to reclaim pole position after Aylesbury dropped two points by drawing 0-0 at Brimsdown Rovers but Chalfont St Peter pushed us down into third place after they thrashed Langford 7-1.
Our performance in this game was inexplicably poor and we were a pale shadow of the team that had generated such a good run of league form. The players never really got going in the game and although we were the league’s leading scorers we fluffed our lines when opportunities came our way and we have now gone two consecutive games without scoring. For a derby the first half was strangely muted and in all honesty the quality of the football was poor. Phil Casserley had to shuffle the side around a bit with the absence of leading scorer Mark Burfoot, who will be out for a few weeks with an ankle injury, bringing in Darren Franklin to play up front with Vinnie Iannone. There were also other changes with Danny Gray, Simon Ellis and Steve Smith replacing Ashley Addison, Rob Duncan and Brett Cort.
We made a tentative start and the first shot was struck by Gary Connolly in the seventh minute which easily nestled into Mike Underwood’s arm. Danny Gray did convert a Graham Hall cross a few minutes later but the goal was ruled out for offside. Some of the refereeing decisions were a bit bizarre, allowing play to continue after Dale Sears fouled Steve Smith which set up Matt Wardle for a shot that was saved by Mike Underwood. Then straight away at the other end Simon Ellis appeared to push the defender to win the ball, slipping it to Darren Franklin who must still be wondering how he didn’t score from such close range. Perhaps justice was done in both cases.
Darren Franklin found Vinnie Iannone whose shot was well saved by Green keeper Carl Tusker, but the ball rebounded to Henry Thomas who drilled a shot just wide. Louis West headed a free kick straight at Mike Underwood and from the right Danny Gray delivered a great free kick that somehow evaded Vinnie Iannone and Simon Ellis. We were getting a bit more into our stride and Darren Franklin’s astute pass sent Vinnie Iannone free into the area but unfortunately he over ran it.
Green had their moments with Matt Wardle creating space nicely with a neat turn only to see his shot hit Dale Sears although the ball was going wide anyway. Mike Underwood had to dash from his line to clear the ball of Wardle’s toes and Gary Connolly thought he would try his luck but his follow up shot went well wide. Green won a number of set pieces and with eight minutes to go to half time our defence failed to clear a corner and had to scramble the ball away untidily. There was a call from the Green players for handball but the referee was unimpressed as he awarded a goal kick. The last action was created by a great run from Darren Franklin along the Green bye line, he then slipped the ball to Tony Fields whose close range shot was saved by Carl Tusker.
But an untidy scrappy first half ended scoreless with us playing well below our capability.
HT: TA 0 LG 0
Any hopes that the players would come fired up for the second half failed to materialise as the pattern of play continued in the same vein as the first. Mike Underwood saved a shot from Matt Wardle then tipped a header past the post from the same player. A long clearance was helped on by Darren Franklin and Danny Gray’s curling shot aimed for the bottom right hand corner was superbly saved by Carl Tusker. Lewis Pritchard came on at half time for Bekim Culaj and his strong run down the left resulting in his cross flying across the area untaken.
Two minutes past the hour Green took the lead and in keeping with the tone of the game it came from some careless play by us. The ball was needlessly given away in a dangerous position and Lewis Pritchard took the opportunity to round Mike Underwood and score. A flurry of substitutions followed for both sides as we drove forward looking for the equaliser. Green were content to drop back and catch us on the break. We went into the game having scored 61 goals in 23 games but we struggled to create any chances until the 79th minute. Then sub David Whicker was played through on goal but instead of shooting he tried to round the keeper but ended up going wide and shooting across the goal. With us piling forward Green caught us on the break two minutes into added time with Gary Connolly making the final score 2-0.
FT: TA 0 LG 2
A disappointing result and we missed a great opportunity to gain an advantage over Aylesbury. It was a strange performance by the team which was flat at times and when we tried to raise our game in the last quarter we couldn’t generate the sort of attacking momentum that has seen us top the goals scored list. But as the old maxim goes there is still a long way to go and we will want to bounce back at Oxhey Jets next week.
Teams:
TA: Mike Underwood, David Salmon, Chris Salmon, Graham Hall (Capt), Steve Smith, Henry Thomas, Tony Fields, Simon Ellis (Rob Duncan 73), Vinnie Iannone (David Whicker 73), Darren Franklin, Danny Gray (Ashley Addison 78). Subs not used: Dave Adamson, Brett Court.
LG: Carl Tusker, Lee Bircham, Bekim Culaj (Lewis Pritchard 45), Bill Morgan, Louis West (Ryan Fhay 80), Gary Connolly, Simon Conway, Richard Harvey (Mark Welling 65), Dale Sears, Dan Griggs (Capt), Matt Wardle. Sub not used: Allan Arthur.
Goals:
TA: -
LG: Lewis Pritchard(62), Gary Connolly (90+2)
Crowd: 152
LG Website: www.levgreenfc.co.uk |
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