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
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
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