League - AFC Urmston Meadowside Eagles v Merseybank United Tigers

Sun 11th Sept 2011 - KO 10:30am

It's been a long time since the lads played league football, and since I have had to write a match report! Our first fixture against Merseybank will not be an easy one. Merseybank are an unknown quantity before kick off, we won't know what type of team they are until after today's fixture. Hopefully the weather will hold off because a hurricane is forcast to hit the UK some time today! Eagles have lost players but have gained players from elsewhere and in my opinion have strengthened in all areas. I am about to see if I am right or not!

Subs: Dom, Joe
Injured: Tyler, Travis

The scheduled ref did not turn up, so one of the parents volunteered, sorry, got dragged in to be referee! Well done Ian!

First Half:
Eagles started very well, some good play down the wings and midfield saw Jack, Conor, Adam, Eddie and Chris all having chances on goal. The shots were either blocked, saved wide or went over the crossbar! The more Eagles tried the more frustrated the lads seemed to get. it looked like the ball was never going in the goal! Merseybank are a strong team, they did manage to break through our defence on a couple of occasions with 2 shots on goal in total in this half. Eagles managed 8 shots in total. It was only down to the Merseybank keeper and defence that kept the scoreline at 0-0 and possibly our lack of confident finishing! The stand in ref did a good job, only 2 free kicks each in this half. I saw great performances from Eoin, Sean and Clevon and Robert.

Second Half:
As often happens in the 2nd half, the opposition come out all guns blazing and Eagles looked shaky at times. A goal was required in order to help decide who gains the first upper hand and grab the game by the scruff of the neck. It was Eagles who broke from defence, some nice play and Eddie gets through the defence, sends a great through ball into the box and a Merseybank player wrong foots it into their own goal! 1-0 to Eagles and we don't care how, who or where, but we deserved to be in front! After the goal things got a bit scrappy, lots of end to end football and lots of free kicks! I counted 8 free kicks each for both sides! Again, the stand in ref did a great job and stood for no messing about from either side! Eagles had the same amount of chances or shots on goal in this half as they did in the first half, 8 in total. The shots came from Lincoln, Chris, Jack and Eddie, but it was a cross from Lincoln that saw Dominic in the box, chest the ball down and battle with a defender and keeper to tap the ball in to make it 2-0! Merseybank faired better in this half with 5 shots on goal, saved or off target mostly! The game continued to be scrappy towards the end, and it was music to our ears when the final whistle was blown! Again great performances from Clevon, Eoin, Chris, Sean, Jack, Lincoln, Eddie and Robert.

Result: 2-0 

Hard earned 3 points against strong opposition, well done everyone! Plenty to work on in training, but that's what football is all about, always looking to improve.

Goal Scorers: Dominic 1, OG 1