2 October 2005 M&DSFL Div 9 at DUNDONALD ROAD REC. GROUND Mitcham Strollers 1 DCFC 4 Leroy 6, Matty 25 74, Wayne 27

 

 

 

 

It was back in December 2002 that these two sides last met competitively, in a season which we all (those of us that can remember) remember well. It was the one season that we really could have walked away with honours, had things gone our way, but the 2002/2003 season was one of those rare seasons where we won more than we lost. Hopefully having Mitcham Strollers in our division can prove to be lucky for us again, more of the same, or even better would be gladly welcome.

Three years has however seen a fair bit of change in those two clubs. Both have since been promoted (as we were in the basement division when we last met). Both have changed colours as well as personnel (as only to be expected), but the one change that was the most disappointing was the sportsmanship that used to be shown between the two sides deteriorated a little. Not to be misquoted, this was far from an ill tempered affair, but after Matty scored our second and sealed the game, things started to turn sour. Dan M sustained nasty war wounds, from a crazy challenge, which should have been dealt with less sympathetically than the yellow card shown, Leroy had his legs hacked and Adrian copped a smack, for, well apparently nothing. This would have been unheard of 3 years ago, when our encounters were always a fixture, both sides would look forward to, knowing we could have a proper game of football. The first half though was clean and fair, these incidents arose probably through nothing more than frustration.

We should be fairly satisfied that we managed to frustrate our opponents. Defensively, we are beginning to be a frustrating team to play against. Two goals conceded, from our first 2 league games is very encouraging, although it is a little early in the season to be contemplating such statistics.

Any passer by, having the intention of watching this game for 30 minutes and then doing something more constructive like washing the car, or mowing the lawn, would have been well advised to watch the first 30 minutes, then scarper. It was a bit like that, as for the first 30 minutes, we took control and made the most of our advantage, flying to a 3-0 lead within the first half hour. Leroy made up for missing what seemed a fairly easy heading opportunity earlier, by making contact to a cross, to put us in front. Matty scored what to be honest is one of the best goals scored by a DCFC player for some time, latching onto Ed's pass on the left wing, running 40 yards and then slotting the ball under the keeper - where did he get that pace from? Wayne then scored when everyone apart from Wayne (luckily) froze and he slotted the ball into the bottom corner to make it three. If you were to be critical of our performance today, you would say that the lack of hunger for more was missing. Mitcham pulled one back shortly after, they at the time at least deserved that, as a 3 goal lead was a little over flattering. They also weren't getting the run of the mill with the ref, we missed out on getting what was a rather obvious corner, but it only went someway to evening itself out.

There's not a lot that can be said for the second half, the longer it went on, the more you wanted it to end, the game had lost it's direction and we weren't creating many chances. Mitcham had as much of the possession as ourselves and even looked to have scored on one occasion when a long range shot looked to have bounced just under the bar .... it must have been an illusion! Best chances for ourselves came from Dan M, (who caused problems as soon as he came on), with a shot (perhaps attempted cross) which missed by a couple of yards and an attempt from Gary L who had a quieter game than usual.