Another Test from the Top

Club captain John Helm returned to centre back, Frankie Dooknah came into the team to play on the right wing with Darryl Passfield moving back to right-back. Dan Spinola played at Centre Back whilst Calvin Lindsay began in the middle of the park alongside Nick Speroni and David Hambridge as TP stuck to a 4-5-1 formation. Last season’s top scorer Ferris Lindsay, recovering from a knee injury, started on the bench.

Before the game began, the word was to win the three first tackles, three shots and three challenges in the air. The oranges kicked of and after a nervy opening, settled down to play their passing game. A lot of the early play was dominated by ELT putting early pressure on the defence but John and Dan won headers, clearing their lines. Darryl had a tough battle up against a strong winger, but he matched his strength and often bettered it.

The midfield was packed with both teams playing three in the middle. One player in particular stood out in their midfield, and he was proving to be their playmaker, spraying passes out to the wings and playing through balls to the strikers. Nick was given the holding role and he, along with the defenders had a tough start. The first goal was scored by ELT about the half-hour mark, a good one-two down the TP left, the winger got behind the side of the defence and cut the ball back, the resulting shot deflected off Dan and crept past goalie Steve Speroni.

ELT kept up the pressure and Steve Speroni faced a one-on-one with an ELT striker. The ball was fumbled, but reminiscent of Oliver Kahn in the 2002 World Cup final, Steve made up for it with a one handed save at the strikers feet. To be fair to Oliver Kahn he was punished by an in-form Ronaldo, whereas the striker who pounced for ELT only had one comparison to Ronaldo; his belly! (meant in the nicest possible way)

TP then began to attack and the last ten minutes of the half was played in the ELT half. A good one-two between Nat Field and Dave produced some space in the middle, Dave played in Frankie whose first touch was slightly mistimed and a defender got back to clear. Frankie’s best moment of the half was soon to follow, and a piece of play that reflected our overall performance. Three ELT players were knocking the ball about between them, Frankie chased and didn’t give up, but carried on running before dispatching a perfectly time tackle, before being replaced by Greg, making his debut. TP jogged in at half-time, full of belief that they could get back into the game.


Second half began with Calvin being put on the wing, with David man-marking the ELT playmaker which gave Nick some freedom to attack.

TP attacked from the off, with Gareth winning a header to Calvin, getting the return and whipping a ball across the face of goal. TP were winning 80% of the aerial challenges and were challenging all of them, first and second ball. Dan moved into the midfield and started dictating the play. Twenty minutes from the end, TP conceded the second. A corner was half cleared but a good powerful, deflected strike, sneaked over Steve’s hand and in.

The big guns were introduced into the game and Ferris came on for Gareth, with veteran soldier Ian replacing John. TP hit back hard, with some good interplay between Nat, Ferris and David resulted in Dave running down the wing, his turn invited a challenge, which meant a foul and a free kick in a promising position. Nick curled it and the ELT keeper, caught it and ran to the area......and then stepped out the area, resulting in another free kick which Nick drilled wide.
Trevor aka Cafu came on and started entertaining the players, let alone the spectators, which included Paul Howard making his debut.

A slight lapse in concentration and a numerical advantage to ELT in attack resulted in a third goal. A counter attack resulted in the playmaker turning and shooting from the edge of the area into the corner.

After the warm down, we spoke about the game and came to the conclusion that we had played well, but need to improve in the final third. Lets make amends next week.

Team:

S. Speroni;
D. Passfield (T. Lindsay), D. Spinola, J. Helm (I. Howard), J. Middleweek;
F. Dooknah (G. Perkins), C. Lindsay, N. Speroni (c), D. Hambridge, N. Field;
G. Goodhew (F. Lindsay);


Blog Writers Man of the Match:

This was a tough one as there was a lot of good performances, and I’m going to give it to Nat Field because he was challenging for every ball and get this, WINNING HEADERS!! He’s proven he’s not tall for nothing. He was strong throughout, held good positions, linked up well with teammates, and also skinned his right-back many a time.

Writer: Dave Hambridge

A Test from the Top...

TPFC were up against a Camberwell team which has very solid reputation.
Finishing second in the League last year we knew we were up for a tough time.

The team in Orange had a very good pre-match talk and everyone knew what was expected of them. Positions were talked through and the mental state of the players was excellent.

Manager Ian decided to go with 4-5-1 formation which everyone was in agreement with, having a solid back four with Gareth being the target man upfront. In the absence of Nick, David was selected as captain and he filled the boots extremely well.

The game kicked off and TP were doing exactly what was needed sitting when needs
be but not giving Camberwell so much respect that we did not go forward. When we
had the ball on the floor we played some brilliant football making the Camberwell very wary. When Camberwell attacked the back four consisting of Trevor, who also had an outstanding match, was solid. Trevor also managed to show us some vintage skills during the match as well as winning many a ball in the air.

However in true TP style we managed to let a floating ball fly over the top of us which caught out the defence and which was an easy finish for the team in yellow to put them 1-0 up. That goal came about 15 minutes into the match which TP were absolutely dominating. And even more disappointing was that it was Camberwell’s first meaningful attack!

Kick off again and we did not let our heads hang, we stuck together and continued to push forward. However not creating many shots on target the inevitable happened. Camberwell benefitted from a mistake in the back and hit home a second goal, which left goal keeper Steve very angry indeed!

The half time whistle went and TP came in still full of energy and exchanging constructive comments about the first half. No substitutions were made and Camberwell now having the sun in their eyes we were hoping to give the keeper a test by having a few powerful shots on target.

Again TP went forward having some very good forward flow but seeming to get caught as last week with the ball over the top. Steve made some good stops keeping the yellows out. The wingers got into the game and made a few attacks but to our frustration no one could get on the end of the crosses to convert for us.

After about 10 minutes of the second half TP conceded the third and 5 minutes later the fourth - one coming from a corner and another from a long ball which just needed to be cleared.

But after that TP still came forward and were able to have a shot or two on target.

With about 15 minutes left, Samuel B came on for Darryl and soon after followed by Nathanael and Frankie. The game slowed but STILL TP came forward with Gareth hitting the crossbar and Nathanael forcing a good save from Camberwell’s goal keeper.

Coming away from the match TP could hold their heads high as we took the game to the Yellows and the 4-0 score line did not reflect the performance of our boys in Orange! With more performances like that to come we can certainly look forward to the rest of the season.


Team:

S. Speroni;
T. Lindsay, I. Howard (F. Dooknah), R. Clift, J. Middleweek (N. Field);
D. Passfield (S. Balogun), D. Spinola, D. Hambridge (c), C. Lindsay;
A. Aryanpour, G. Goodhew;


Blog Writers Man of the Match:

Match Captain David Hambridge - led by example in the team talks and in the tackle.

Writer: Frankie Dooknah

Bruised but not Crushed.

Another good squad of players took on one of the 'new boys' in the league, Tower Hamlets. They have been playing for a number of years in a different church league and they turned out to be a tough nut to crack.

Dave Hambridge returned to the team for his first appearance of the season; with Dan Ong and Jessie Middleweek in line for their debuts also.

However, after letting them have a goal in the first few minutes, it was always going to be an uphill task. As the first half spanned out we began to get into the game, resulting in a nice slid rule pass from Frankie through to Gareth, who calmly guided the ball into the net for his 2nd in two matches.
But we again allowed them to have a number of chances in the first half, and but for some outstanding saves from Steve, last ditch tackles from David and a clearance of the line from Sam Ranthe (from his own back pass!) we would have gone in at half time more than 2 v 1.

After wise words from the manager, coach and our unofficial 'asst manager' Trevor and various comments from players, the thought of the second half was look forward too.

However we seemed to loose the plot with Tower Hamlets ploughing 3 and sometimes 4 forward. Attack after attack was only going to end up with one result... more goals for them.

As we failed to play the ball on the floor as much as we did in the 1st game of the season we found it difficult to supply Gareth & Ferris with anything that might end up being a half chance. Nick managed a great long range shot which just missed the angle of the bar and post late on, however on the whole we battled well but without any real success. Tower Hamlets managed to take over the game as the 3rd then the 4th (a possible pen) went in. The pen was almost saved well by Steve, yet the power of the shot sent it into the top corner via Steve's valiant effort.

Jesse our new signing who has just turned 16 made his debut and slotted in well at left back; Dan Ong also came on to make his first start.

At least one of Tower's goals ought to have been called offside, yet by know we were very bruised not only by the score but also by a strong Tower Hamlets team, who will do well this season I am sure.

However, as the heading of this blog suggests we may be bruised by such a scoreline, yet we are not - and should not - feel crushed.

It must be a game 'we learn from' as our coach mentioned after the game. We have experienced a high and a low this season and we know how hard we need to work for the highs in future. But they will be worth it!

Team:

S. Speroni;
D. Mitchell (D. Passfield), D. Hambridge, R. Clift, S. Ranthe (J. Middleweek);
F. Dooknah (D. Spinola), N. Field, N. Speroni (c), C. Lindsay (D. Ong);
G. Goodhew (1) (S. Balogun), F. Lindsay;

Blog Writers Man of the Match:

Steve Speroni - Hands down the best performance on the pitch. But for him the score would of been double figures. But alongside this, 2 games in and his stature in goal, his talking and his distribution have come on leaps and bounds from last season already.

Writer: Ian Howard

History Repeats... We Hope Not!

This time last year, Tollington Park F.C were at Wanstead Flats making their league debut against Ecclesia.

This year, the fixture list threw up the same opening day match up.

Our last outing saw us lose 5-1 against the team in black, and whilst we won on the opening day last year 2-1, we couldn't buy a win for a while afterwards!

But this is where history won't repeat on us.

A very new TP kicked off the season with no less than 3 starting debutants - Steve (Pinto), Rowan & Darryl (not including Sam Ranthe & Arsan who hardly featured last year) and 2 debutants on the bench - Gareth & Frankie.

Oh, and a modified kit to remind us of last years achievements and our ultimate aim for this season!

TP started strongly and spent the first 20mins camped in the Ecclesia half. There were nice spells of football and some strong individual play, especially from Nathaneal.

TP were looking dangerous. Through balls were being played into dangerous areas that, when relationships are more established, would have led to goals on a plate for the highly regarded Steve P, and whilst shots were not raining down on the Ecclesia goal, the pressure was building and corners were being won.

But whilst last season we needed what at times felt like dozens of chances to get a goal (unless Ferris was sniffing about!), Darryl whipped a ball in and it eventually fell to Sam B (right back!) to bury, despite calls for offside (which the Ref waved away due to the ball falling into Sam's path via an Ecclesia defender).

But, in TP style, we all switched off and made life hard, especially in the face of the wind which made its expected return to the Flats. Ecclesia took confidence from their pressure but some die hard defending in and around the box, as well as a fine one on one save from our own Green Giant kept TP going in at half time a goal to the good.

A couple of half time changes saw Trevor replace an excellent Sam R at left back and debutant goal provider Darryl make way for debutant Gareth, who moved up front with Nathaneal moving to the wide right position where he spent most of last season.

But Ecclesia started the stronger and oddly still were taking advantage of the wind that was now against them, with a hopeful shot hanging in the air before dropping onto the top of the bar.

Their pressure paid off when a good cross was put in for the Ecclesia striker to leap highest and bury. Even if marking had been tighter it would have been difficult to stop.

But this is where the new faces paid dividends, as while the old boys had been in this positon many times before, the new boys weren't affected and drove the team onwards.

TP picked up the pace and, as in the first half, took the game back to the opposition down the wings. Corners and throws were being won in dangerous area's and Ecclesia were beginning to get rattled again, to the extent of an Ecclesia player saying their formation of 4-2-1 wasn't working! No wonder, they felt like they were 4 players short - but they were all sitting in the middle of midfield.

2 more substitutions were made, and the tireless physical work of Steve and Nathaneal - both of whom caused endless problems for the opposition when on the ball, made way for Dan Spin and Frankie.

The football and pressure continued, but it was a strike from out of the blue that caught everyone - even his teammates - off guard! Gareth had very much kept himself to himself before the game and no-one knew what to expect from him - we know now! The ball dropped to Gareth some 40 yards plus from goal, and with one touch for control and a swing of his right boot, the ball flew goal bound so fast the goalkeeper shrunk into himself and was beaten. What have Walthamstow let go?

Moments later, a delicate but perfect through ball from Dan Spin found Calvin from the left wing, who showed great pace, strength and finishing to beat the goalkeeper.

A couple more chances fell, but Ecclesia still thought there was a way back and nearly found it but for Steve sprawling 6ft plus across his goal to save a clear cut chance with his head, which must have been enjoyable compared to the pain he experienced in the first half when he saved with another part of his anatomy (think just below the waist!).

Some more die hard defending after a physical encounter against a big team (that all in Orange relished) made sure TP got off to another winning start.

The challenge now is to keep the form going against new boys Tower Hamlets next week.

Team:

S. Speroni;
S. Balogun (1), I. Howard, R. Clift, S. Ranthe (T. Lindsay);
C. Lindsay (1), A. Aryanpour, N. Speroni (c), D. Passfield (G. Goodhew (1));
S. Pinto (D. Spinola), N. Field (F. Dooknah);

Blog Writer Man of the Match:

A few outstanding performances (Steve S, Arsan, Nathaneal), but Rowan - on his debut - dominated the back line. Always encouraging, directing and getting to where he needed to be as well as ensuring TP played football from the back out.