DUNDONALD CHASE F.C.
NEWS ARCHIVE

2 November 2003 - Morden & District League Division 8

DCFC 0 (0)
Old Wimbledonians 2 (1)
pen 13, 79

The ground was a mess and so was our football

Just how a team can put in a great performance one week and play so abysmally the next, defies logical explanation. Our performance against the Wombles was simply awful. Our defending was feeble, our midfield couldn't control the ball and we had nothing up front. Admittedly the conditions weren't set up for a neat passing game, but the Wombles didn't seem to have any problems with the sloppy conditions whereas we looked like a completely different side to the one that snatched a hard earned point off Inter last week.

We had a mixed start to the game, for the first few minutes the Wombles hardly touched the ball and early signs were that we were heading for our first 3 points of the season. It is probably fair to say that a bizarre decision from the ref to award our opponents a penalty for a push in the box swung this game. Damion the alleged player, did his usual aaaarrgghh! (meaning no way) when the penalty was awarded, he couldn't believe it, nor could any of our players, or even the opposition to be fair, but there was little we could do about it and there was little that Tony in goal could do, as the kick was neatly tucked away in the bottom corner. Something we don't normally see as our penalties are normally fluffed!

So the Wombles were a goal up with less than 15 minutes on the clock, they just about deserved it, as they had other chances earlier, including hitting the post and another effort that went wide, as our defence were at sixes and sevens. The remainder of the half saw us plod on without creating hardly another chance. The Wombles tested Chara and were generally testing our defence, as we often failed to clear our lines.

The second half was the half that was the most depressing, this was the half where we got really sloppy and no outfield player was playing well. There were a catalogue of errors made at the back and our midfield was mishitting passes and generally losing those 50/50 balls, as for our strikers, they never tested the opposing keeper, even he said after the game, he wasn't tested once. The fact that we have only scored 1 goal in our last 3 games is worrying enough, but to actually play 90 minutes of football and not force the keeper into a single save is distressing.

The highlight of the game was when midway through the second half the ball got stuck in the tree! Ok, maybe that's a bit harsh, but you have to be impressed at the team work to get the ball back after the game! Realistically the only moments of inspiration came from Kirk, who showed spurts of energy up front and Chara who looked impressive in goal. What made his performance all the more creditable was that he had a heavy night before, but there again, it has never done him any harm in the past.

Maybe we can be grateful that we saved one of worst performances in recent times for this game, as if we played like this last week you would probably have been looking at a rugby score. We've got to do better than this. How we played so badly is almost beyond explanation. Blaming it on the pitch isn't excusable, even though it did severely hamper our game. The pitches are more likely to get worse then better as the season progresses. It wasn't exactly the best way to start our first proper home game of the season and Tony may not want to return, but then maybe he enjoyed the action, we certainly kept him busy.