DUNDONALD CHASE F.C.
NEWS ARCHIVE

9 November 2003 - Morden & District League Division 8 at King George V Playing Fields

Kingsway 4 (2)
32,45,57,68
DCFC 1 (0)
Daniel 90

Do you get the feeling that we are going to be in for a long hard season? Six league games gone and just one point to show for our efforts, albeit one hard earned point against top of the table Inter.

On a positive note, it was better than last weeks shocking performance, but we still have a lot of areas we need to improve on, if we are to avoid the drop. Early signs always seem to be good with us, the first 15-20 minutes saw us take control of the game, with Kingsway generally on the back foot. We were passing the ball around nicely, but we could do this for 90 minutes and we would still struggle to score. Our problem is we have no one to finish, although one positive thing to come from this game, is that we may well have found a striker in Jamie. He wasn't on for long, but while on, he looked like the missing piece of the jigsaw that we have been looking for.

The plan was that we were to play a new formation (5-3-2), but sadly and perhaps understandably this never materialised, it was almost as if no one understood it, or everyone was too used to the traditional 4-4-2. Our shape was the one thing that let us down, as the more that the game progressed, the worse we looked, particularly at the back, where Kingsway were enjoying all sorts of freedom and at times could virtually walk the ball into the back of the net.

Not having a goalkeeper is going against us at the moment. Richie played the majority of the game between the sticks and Ed helped out for half an hour and made the save of the match. Maybe someone should ask Ed nicely if he wouldn't mind taking up the position full-time ? That's not taking anything away from his outfield performance, as Ed had his best game out on pitch for some time. Obviously disappointed with his way below par performance last week, he was determined to make up for it this week. Other highlights from an individual point of view, came from Damion, as he weaved his usual magic, but there never seemed anyone to lay the ball off to, or if there was, nothing would come from it.

It really was a case of same old, same old this week, nothing really seems to change, our games have a very predictable pattern: play well for the first 15-20, controlling the game, then make a slip up at the back, the other team scores and then it's all down-hill from there. That's exactly what happened in this encounter, Kingsway took their opportunity well, lobbing poor old Richie. The finish was great, but why the ref didn't blow up for a reckless challenge on Tuffie literally seconds before, is questionable. Their second saw Richie tip an effort onto the bar, only for Kingsway to act quickest and double their lead.

We started well again in the second half, but every time Kingsway came forward, we never looked comfortable and as the game wore on, this became more noticeable. The third goal came from the Kingsway forward, who broke free and slotted the ball into the bottom corner. The fourth was a neat little flick, into the far corner. At 4-0 down we were looking pretty woeful, the defence was in pieces, so the consolation goal by Dan in stoppage time, eased the misery.

Had we converted our chances earlier on, this may have been a different score line, as like last week, our opponents didn't look confident, until they were a couple of goals in front.

We're all looking forward to our Hickey Cup fixture, as it is the only chance of success this season, but until we win a game, there doesn't seem to be much point in building up our hopes.