DUNDONALD CHASE F.C.
NEWS ARCHIVE

19 October 2003 - Edgar Hemingway Junior Cup at Overton Rec., Sutton

NC Royals 2 (1)
17, 47
DCFC 1(1)
Joe 21

Our sorry record in the Edgar Hemingway Junior Cup continues, after we were narrowly beaten in an enthralling contest against NC Royals. Believe it or not we had only scored once in this competition before today (since the 1998/1999 season) and this is actually our best result in this competition, as traditionally we normally suffer heavier defeats.

6 games, 6 defeats - The League Junior cup has proved tough cookie for DCFC

There's not much doubt, we are getting better. This was without much argument our best performance so far this season and maybe in some ways it was the perfect result, as we are in the Hickey Cup as usual and to be honest, we wouldn't have stood much chance progressing that far, in the main event.

Strong winds and a hard ground made this a testing contest. The winds in particular gave each team a noticeable advantage in each half. Royals would therefore have been delighted with their opener, as a sweetly struck free kick sailed over desperate Dan in goal to give them the lead. Dan called into action for his second game had a great game in goal, having earlier pushed a Royals shot wide for a corner.

Fortunately for us, our response didn't take to long, helped by a wayward back pass, Kirk responded like a wild cat seeking his pray, he won the fight and Joe was at hand to finish off the scraps. For the remainder of the half we battled well, playing some neat passing football at times, but were unable to create any more distinctive chances. Royals tried a couple more long range shots and also forced Dan into a very good stop, as he did well to get down low and tip the effort round the post.

Despite our reasonable first half performance, there was still a lot of panic in the half-time team talk. Tuffie as usual exercised his vocals, with his renowned 'we need to hunt in packs' performance - very inspiring! It didn't seem to bring us any immediate luck as a sweetly struck shot from 25 yards brought Royals level with only 2 minutes of the second half gone. However from this point we took control and played the best half of our season so far. It's encouraging to see that things are slowly coming together. Battles were generally being won in midfield and the defence was holding out well, the only problem was the lack of a hit man up front to tidy things up. Matty, Richie and Joe were all firing in efforts, but none sadly tested their keeper. Damien was weaving his usual magic on the right, but there was to be no finish. The Royals on the other hand, saw a couple of efforts go agonisingly wide, as well as a few efforts sail over the bar, although they seemed to not be in it as much in the second half, you could say that they still managed to create more threatening chances.

With time running out, we pushed all men (including Dan) forward in search of an equaliser, unfortunately it wasn't to be. Oh well, it looks like the Hickey Cup is to be our main source of interest again. Hopefully this time, lady luck can be a little bit more kind.

On another note, did anyone notice anything unusual about the centers at the start of both halves ? Answers on a postcard please.