DUNDONALD CHASE F.C.
NEWS ARCHIVE

West Sutton Celtic Reserves 1 (1) (0)
83
DCFC 2 (1) (0)
Richie 62, Dan M 116

Extra-time played, 1-1 after 90 mins.

So all this recent talk of never winning close matches and here we are coming through just about one of the closest games you can get. This was more self inflicted, than anything else and to be honest you can look back at this game and laugh your christmas socks off, as some of the misses were unbelievable.

There is a DVD out in time for Christmas, packed full of howlers. Had our three been on there, they would be amongst the finest of the lot ! One of these misses, (it would be harshly unfair to name the guilty parties), was just unbelievable as from 1 yard out, with virtually all the goal to aim at the shot was put wide, The home end couldn't believe it and they just cracked up laughing, you had to laugh and see the funny side! This came at a time when we were already in extra-time and to be honest, after seeing chances like that go begging, you couldn't help but think that, that was it. In the opening minutes of the game another player, who shall not be mentioned missed two golden chances. There are very few games where you can look back on missed chances like these and still be fortunate enough to come away with a win.

The result of this game keeps our season alive. Luckily for us, there is light at the end of the tunnel, we have more than a mid-table battle to engage in as we also have the chance to play at Gander Green Lane in the Hickey Cup Final, something a few of our players have dreamed of for years! Of course they may well still have to keep dreaming as we have two more games to win, before that becomes reality.

This fixture was drawn some time ago and at the time we were fairly happy with the draw, knowing that WSCR were rock bottom of division 7. However in recent times they have picked up some decent results including a win against our next opponents Sutton Heritage. We all remember what happened the last time the two sides played - dare we remind ourselves that from 1-0 up at half-time we somehow lost 6-1. It goes without saying that we will need to take our chances on that day.

2-1 with 120 minutes of football played, was by all reflection a very low scoring scoreline, especially when you look back on the opportunities that both sides had. We missed sitters, but West Sutton failed to score from their slightly less obvious opportunities. Lee in goal was superb, you couldn't really ask more from a keeper, not only did he command his 18 yard box superbly and distribute the ball well, he also made one top draw save and other decent stops.

When we took the lead in the second half, we deserved it overall. Leo took a decent free kick, which resulted from a reckless challenge. The keeper failed to hold and Richie pounced to break the deadlock. We were less convincing in the second half however, but even still, it was cruel when Sutton scored with just 7 minutes of normal time remaining. How many times do we get caught out and concede late goals ? Normally we collapse after these, but this time we managed to hold on until extra time at least, but we nearly went out as Sutton had a chance go just wide minutes later.

So extra time it was and the first 15 minutes went in no time at all, it looked like this match was heading for penalties, (we couldn't feel overly confident of these, as we don't really have many penalty takers in the team, in fact it wasn't all that long ago that we couldn't score a penalty for toffee) .... then Dan M turned his man and fired a great strike into the bottom corner - that's the way to do it son, now we had to hold on and the last 4 minutes seemed to take another 15 minutes. The lady ref, who strangely played almost exactly 45-45 and 15 up until now, added to the suspense by deciding to add over 2 minutes on, just to test our nerve even more, but this time we held on, it was hard to believe we won after the final whistle went. A close game, where the misses didn't count in the end and a game where we let in a late goal and kept our nerve. Maybe these are encouraging signs. Maybe there's life in the old Dun's yet. Pour yourselves an extra larger glass of sherry this Christmas dear chaps, reflect, enjoy and look forward to 2005 - hopefully it will bring rewards.