DUNDONALD CHASE F.C.
NEWS ARCHIVE

15 February 2004 Mrs Hickey Cup Round 3 at Nursery Road Recreation Ground

DCFC 5 (2)
Dan 20, Matty 26, Richie 73, og 112 Adrian 89
Kingsway 7 (1)
40, 51, 81, 85, 93, 98, 101

Matty (right of Kirk) scored a fantastic individual second goal.

So this is it, our season is now over and ends in a disappointing fashion as we let another two goal lead slip. No one can question our start to this game, we started in a similar fashion to our last encounter with Kingsway. That time we went a goal up and eventually bowed out losing 4-1, this time we let a two goal lead go.

Nothing seems to change with us, controlling the opening stages of a game doesn't seem to be a problem and for the first 30 minutes we were on top. Matty had a great effort from 20 something yards, hitting a sweet strike and forcing the Kingsway keeper into a decent save. It didn't take long for our persistence to reap the rewards as Dan was there to power home Richie's header across goal. Matty then scored a cracking second, going on a long solo run, it looked as if he couldn't possibly go all the way, but virtually unchallenged he carried his run into the box and then tucked the ball neatly past the advancing Kingsway keeper. Damion then had a great chance to give us the cushion of a three goal lead, his run earned him the right to the opportunity, but the only lacking aspect of Damion's game - his finishing let him down.

Up until now, Kingsway hadn't really caused us too much trouble at the back, so when their forward held off the challenge of Tom and neatly tucked the ball wide of Joe in goal, with just 5 minutes to go, it virtually saved the tie and no doubt gave them a massive psychological boost.

If only we had held onto our two goal lead at half-time, you can't help but ask yourself, what if ? It would have meant that Kingsway would have gone in two down, reflecting on precious few opportunities as well.

The second half and subsequent halves of extra-time, turned more into war then football at times. Kingsway were now up for making this a real battle, hoping that there age advantage would be enough to intimidate our younger players. Although we may have a few younger less sure players, our experienced boys did the job of defending the interests of the team in green.

For any neutrals watching this would have been a great 90 minutes to watch, but as much as we played our part in entertaining when going forward, we were guilty of providing entertainment at the back as well. It wouldn't be fair to blame the defence entirely for the goals that followed. Kingsway's third was an amazing example of how you can score directly from a corner, as the corner was curled inwards, the ball conveniently found itself in the top corner, there wasn't a lot that we could have done about that, but when Kingsway caused us the same problem with their 4th, this time with a corner that was admittedly well taken, we seemed to be nowhere when it came to defending it. It really did seem at that stage that this was all over, but Adrian somehow squeezed the ball home from a tight angle with only minutes remaining, to send this sea-saw of a game into extra-time.

Up until now, we could be fairly happy with our performance, but the next 15 minutes, were the 15 minutes from hell. Poor old Joe who did so well last time around in goal, fumbled the next two. You can't attribute all the blame on him, especially as he is not a goal-keeper, again looking back these last 30 minutes needn't have happened, had we taken the game in normal-time. There was a lot Jo could have done about the 7th, luckily we didn't completely keel over and restored a little bit of pride when Richie's shot took a deflection to narrow the harsh difference. We were admittedly lucky not to concede more as Kingsway hit the woodwork twice.

It has been a tough season and this was the only game that could have saved us. It could have been, but we blew it again. We in all honesty didn't play badly, but we give silly goals away and until we sort that out, we will always be a nearly team.